Interview with Finn Ress – keyboardist, composer and producer

Livin’ la vida local

A new music and arts festival is coming to the Northern Rivers, with Bangalow set to host the inaugural Dingo Music & Arts Festival across four days from 8 to 11 October.

Anchored in jazz and programmed through a contemporary lens, Dingo brings together internationally acclaimed musicians, leftfield selectors, performance artists, chefs, and thinkers for four days of performances, conversations and shared experiences. Unfolding across Bangalow’s halls, galleries, record stores and public spaces, the festival invites audiences to move through the town at their own pace, discovering unexpected encounters where music, art and community intersect.

Seven spoke to temporarily-lately-local Finn Rees, a Tasmania-born, Melbourne-lived, London-based pianist, keyboardist and composer who has quietly become one of the most sought-after musicians in Australian jazz.

Rees was roadside in Byron Bay – phone in hand, waiting on a lift to South Golden Beach…

Best known as one half of Close Counters alongside Allan McConnell, he has also done bunches of other cool stuff along with his 2024 debut solo album Dawn Is A Melody – a spiritual, deeply textured jazz record that draws a line from Alice Coltrane through Herbie Hancock to Arthur Verocai while sounding unmistakably, warmly present.

You’re in Byron at the moment?
Yeah, just on the road. I was up for a wedding, so I ended up being up here early, and I was meeting up with festival director Si (Jay Gould) to do some little promo for Dingo. I managed to do two things this weekend.

What’s happening for you musically at the moment?
In terms of output, I’ve got an EP coming, I’ve got two new singles called ‘Another Spring’ and ‘Feel The Sun’. The EP’s coming out at the end of October.

That’s as a solo artist – you’ve got a few hats. What about the others?
With Close Counters we have a bunch of different releases coming out at the moment. We just dropped an EP which is a collaboration with River Star and Andre Espoo – more of a soulful house sort of EP. And we’ve done a bunch of remixes recently, including a Kazakhstani band, Magic of the Nomads. There’s a lot of stuff coming out at the moment.

You’re on the Dingo program twice, one solo and one with Close Counters. How does your head get around that – I’m doing this now, I’m doing that later?
Energetically, my music is a little more dynamic and jazzy and instrumental, and then Close Counters is much more of a dance, kind of a funky, party act. They’re different energies, but Close Counters suits the later evening a lot more as people get into it. Having a little break in between definitely helps. It’s just putting on different hats. They’re kind of somewhat related – they’re a lot of my compositions – but sometimes you just need different outlets.

Do you think having all those different outlets makes you a better, more well-rounded musician?
I think so. Being able to approach music as a whole, no matter what genre, there are these overarching values and concepts you can apply to anything. And I think with my wellbeing, it helps doing a few different projects, because I never get bored with something. I find it very easy to become inspired, and having a few things going means there’s always a new avenue for expression. If I don’t feel like making a spiritual jazz record, I might be more in the mood to make a house record. Even though they might be different worlds and different settings, there’s a lot more overlap –and overlap in the audience as well. Especially this festival: if you’re into this thing, you’re probably into that thing. They might not be anywhere near the same kinds of rhythms, but it still exists on more of a values-based sort of thing.

Who are your jazz inspirations?
Too many! But I could speak to recently seeing the amazing Brazilian pianist Amaro Freitas. It was one of the most incredible performances I’ve seen recently. Just the way he incorporated the sounds of the Brazilian rainforest in a musical sense, through an atmospheric way of playing, but also very technical and playful. Being deep as well as playful at the same time are things I aspire to.

Arthur Verocai, who’s maybe jazz-adjacent but very much a cinematic composer, and of course Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock. Chick Corea was a massive inspiration of mine. People who have explored electronic and more acoustic stuff, who aren’t afraid to go outside the box – that sweet spot of the early ‘70s, experimenting with synthesizers and fusion. I really love the sound of that era. And of course our local legend Barney McCall has been a big inspiration, the way he infuses a lot of gospel and Cuban inspirations.

Many eras of music – rock ’n’ roll, folk, new wave… they are often stuck in their time zones. Is jazz still moving and growing with the times?
I think so. In the last ten years it’s become less of a taboo word, especially in Australia. It used to be quite an old sound, old-timey. People used to associate it with old white men for some reason. It’s definitely had a new wave. It’s hard to say why, but we’ve had a lot of rock music at the forefront of Australian music, and now that hip hop and jazz, and all these adjacent things have taken over a bit, it’s cool again. Young people are much more interested. It’s so expressive with so many avenues for expression, a never-ending wormhole of discovery.

Speaking of worms – what’s your current earworm?
I’ve been at a wedding over the weekend, so every pop song known to man has been going around in my head. ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.’ There was a bunch of MJ songs. On a daily basis I often have a two-bar loop of a song going around in my head until I get sick of it.

So tell us about your involvement with the festival?
A little while ago Si hit me up saying he’d love to organise a show for me in the Northern Rivers, and then the conversation gradually evolved into him organising this much bigger thing and getting all of my favourite Aussie acts involved. So it feels like a big family affair. A lot of people who have inspired me coming up through the Melbourne scene over the last ten years are playing. I’ll be playing on the Saturday as my own project, and then as Close Counters later in the evening.

What will you be bringing – new material or old?
I’ll be playing stuff off the new EP, Feel The Sun, as well as stuff off Dawn Is A Melody which was my first album, out a couple of years ago. A mixed bag. And with Close Counters we’ve got a four- or five-piece playing stuff off Lover’s Dance Academy, our most recent album. We’ve got a new one in the works as well. We’ll be bringing the live band along for that.

Festivals are dropping like flies. How important is it that punters support them?
Incredibly important. I couldn’t put my heart behind it more. Festivals have this beautiful ability to create a shift in one’s consciousness and psyche and emotional wellbeing, and people just forget that. When we have the option of being on the internet browsing the whole weekend, or manifesting new forms of art and being involved in-person, in real life – now more than ever, with our digital tech age, I think it’s so important to be there in person, soaking up and experiencing things happening in real time.

Especially something like Dingo. They’re really taking a few risks, but there’s going to be a lot of incredible stuff happening. You’ve got to be willing to put yourself out there and make it a bit experimental and allow the audience to be part of it. It’s very collaborative. I’m anticipating a very beautiful coming together of people from many different walks of life.

Anyone in particular you’re looking forward to seeing?
Oh, so many – so many of my favourite acts. I’ll be watching David Versace, Coco Maria, Allysha Joy – who’s also my partner, Barney McCall obviously, and Miss Kaninna, who I’ve produced a couple of songs for in the past. There’s so many more!

Finn, are you having enough fun?
I think so. I’d like to keep this level of fun – that’s a deep question. If you asked me on a Tuesday I might have a different answer, or a Thursday. But it’s a Sunday, and I feel very full. I’ve seen a lot of friends over the last few days. As a creative artist, we can switch into working at almost any point in the day, so it needs to be self-directed to actually take us out of our work and enjoy ourselves. Over the last month? I probably need to have some more fun.

You can have fun with Finn Rees at Dingo festival on Saturday, 10 October. To find out more, visit:
dingofestival.com.