Brisbane six piece Mosman Alder have just release Humdrum Star the band’s debut LP.
Weaving the band mates’ experiences of travelling overseas, the bitter sweetness of returning home, online pen-pals, sharing dog-eared books from Japanese expressionists, navigating through shyness and Arts schools and the inevitable searching that comes with figuring out life through your early twenties is underpinned by the band’s love of music, art, storytelling and ultimately, their own friendship.
Much of Humdrum Star may have been written on German guitars and composed on separate trips across the globe as far flung as South East Asia and Scotland, but was performed and written, simply, by a band who look forward to practicing together.
Though there are many voices, places and influences swirling in Mosman Alder, their debut is incredibly unified and cohesive. The band’s Jackson Muir gave us a track by track run down of their new Paul Dempsey produced LP.
Golden Archers
“It was Paul Dempsey’s (producer) idea to put this song first on the album and have it lead directly into ‘Germland’. It’s probably the most experimental song on the album. It is not conventionally structured (well at least not for a semi- pop band anyway) Its built off just two chord progressions but the instrumentation builds and climaxes to a pulsating surge of noise”.
Germland (of Julien Charbonneau)
“This is the oldest song on the album and the first single. A couple of years ago we had all taken a break. Valdis (Valodze, band member) was in Germany and he emailed the song to us. Even in its early acoustic/rough stage it had obvious potential. We arranged this song a bunch of times and Paul convinced us that the first demo was where it was at.”
Colours
“This was the last song written for the album. It’s a collective band favourite. I love the drums, they are like clockwork, like parts systematically clunking over inside a machine. I was in a bit of transitional period when writing this. There was a shift in my thinking towards life and the people around me. All for the better! The last line “do you know your colour?” is a reference to an old friend and a conversation we once had about colour symbolism.”
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Try Your Luck
“This is a very synth heavy song. For the verses I was inspired by the phrasing in ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’ by The Beatles. The way each word kind of pushes the next one along, I wanted to do something that was kind of anticipated like that. I asked Valdis to sing lead in the verses as it was right in his register. There is also a call and response vocal in the pre chorus/chorus between Robyn (Dawson), Valdis, Kat (Wiktorski) and I.
Home Again
“This song was born out of a jam Valdis, Liam (Haug) and I had. When the rest of the band arrived to rehearse that night we finished the song off within a matter of hours. Not many tracks come together that quickly. You can do silly dances to this one. The ostrich.”
God Is Pissing On You
“When we started pre production Paul had a lot of notes on this one and it took a few corners I don’t think any of us were expecting. The title was taken from a cartoon I had drawn and posted on the rehearsal space wall. It was of a Roman Catholic depiction of God urinating on someone.”
Shine
“Every album needs a ballad right? This song was originally supposed to be a completely stripped back number. Nothing but piano and vocals. There’s a kind of hip hop back beat in the second verse and some crescendo moments now. Our manager likes this song.”
Its Not Love
“Rock and/or Roll. In the demo stages this song was pretty slow and it had an 80s industrial feel. Paul proposed that we speed it up 50bpm and throw in a punk beat. That’s the great thing about collaborating with someone. They see things differently and before you know it, it’s a completely different song.”
Prized Paradise
“This is one of my favourite songs on the record and I wish i had more to say.. it’s very Valdis… Sweet and straight to the point. The string arrangements are lovely and I was pretty much learning to play slide as I tracked.”
Tokyo 1933
“‘Tokyo’ is one of the oldest songs on the record and the most progressive. Very little has changed since we wrote it a couple years ago. I think we were listening to a lot of ‘Talk Talks’ last two records and kraut rock when we were arranging this. It has been a consistent closer for our live set. I think everyone expected it would be the last song on the album too but…”
Spirit
“This song very nearly didn’t make the album but I think we are all glad it did. After a few too many IPA’s one night Paul and I flirted with the idea of this being the last track on the album. It took some convincing but now it is.‘Tokyo 1933’ kind of says goodbye and ‘spirit’ is sort of post script.”
Humdrum Star is out now via Dew Process
