Triple J’s Unearthed comp has been responsible for delivering some Aussie treasures. One true gem is Melbourne’s indie folk darlings, Husky.
Having just released Rucker’s Hill, the follow-up album to Forever So, the band have revealed a new maturity in this very considered approach to recording. Gideon Preiss (vocals / keys) believes second albums are hard to make in the way any significant body of work is hard. ‘I’d imagine the same goes for writing a novel, making a film or producing a play. In the beginning, the writing process alone requires many hours of hard, concentrated, focused work. And of course, this is just the very beginning!’
The band had set high expectations for this album.
‘After the release of Forever So we toured extensively for a year across Australia, Europe and America. You learn a lot about playing live when you do it every night. Something we felt from playing so many shows was that we probably needed a more dynamic show. In the past we’ve written more dreamy, atmospheric, folky tunes but this time round we felt we needed some more upbeat ones.’ There were many influences on Ruckers Hill, with Deep Sky Diver paying homage to the great late Nick Drake. For many artists Drake is a songwriting touchstone who keeps drawing them in.
‘He’s one of those artists who when you try to explain why he’s so amazing you can never quite capture it. One thing about Nick Drake is that you don’t realise how complex his writing is until you take time to peel away the layers. That is one of the hardest things to do as a writer – to write something simple and complex.’
So what should we be expecting for the Mullum Music Festival show?
‘Mullum Fest is one of the great Aussie festivals. It’s both the artists’ and the people’s festival, where the musicians and the punters all blend into one, the way music is supposed to be shared. So we’re expecting a good old time and are happy to play among so many great Aussie acts. By the time the festival rolls around we will be about three weeks into our national tour in support of the new record so the band should be pretty gig-fit and hopefully sounding tight!’
.
