They met. They fell in love. They wrote songs. They fought. They made up. They broke up. They wrote songs. It’s been a complex personal journey, but it’s the one that’s brought Falls to their stunning debut, Omaha.
After two years of honing their songs and live chops during a residency at inner city Sydney haunt the Hotel Hollywood, the songwriting partnership of Simon Rudston-Brown and Melinda Kirwin caught the ear of triple j.
Some tours supporting the likes of The Lumineers, Passenger, Of Monsters & Men, Vance Joy, and Matt Corby later and Omaha is finally ready to see the light of day and we have everything you need to know courtesy of the band themselves.
‘Let In The Light’
M: Let in the Light is the first song on the album, and is one of the first songs we wrote when we moved to America when the reality of what we had done had begun to set in…. It is a very personal song.
S: This is a really sad song – but it’s one of my favorites on the record. It’s really about the break down of a relationship and all the shitty stuff that goes along with that. Wanting to say sorry, wanting the other person to be ok, wanting them to get on with their lives, but also not being able to let go.
M: For me it’s about a much deeper sadness, and putting on a brave face for the rest of the world while feeling the opposite inside. While it is about the unhappiness and insecurities that can plague all of us, and the ways we often hide this from those around us, ‘fake the smiles’ and carry on, ultimately it’s about finding hope even in those darkest of times.
M: The ‘light’ in the song comes from the beautiful string arrangement, which begins to bubble away like light appearing through the cracks, then opens up into the soaring outro like you are being flooded with light.
S: I think by the end you have been transported musically from the darkness to a brighter place.
‘Summer’
M: Summer is one of our newest songs. We finished it just before we hit the studio and it really does sum up how we feel about being on the road.
S: As we were getting ready for the recording session for our album we realised that we had been away from home for almost a year and that it had been tough – trying to settle in to a new city, make new friends, write an album, be broke, drive on the right!
M: The chorus for this song had actually been kicking around in our heads for a while, but after a year on the road it began to take on a new meaning and the rest of the song came easily. It’s jangly optimism embodies how we feel about travelling – we LOVE being on the road but there are a few people that we miss every single day and we can’t wait to see them again.
S: Whenever that may be……
‘Beating Hearts’
M: There is definitely an undercurrent of longing for another that runs throughout the record, and this is the first time this sentiment appears.
S: For me this song is about a turning point in someone’s life. The song has a clear timeline and is literally about a person on their way to meet someone and not really knowing what they are going say. It’s about indecision and eventually a realisation – for better or worse.
‘That’s The Thing’
M: People often say if you date a musician be careful what you say and do as it may end up in a song! It is definitely true as I am often surprised at where imagery or a lyrical idea comes from…. This song was inspired by many friends left behind, but particularly, this song is for Pamela who taught me to dream of Steve McQueen.
S: I think lyrically this is one of my favourite songs on the record. There’s a lot of really nice imagery. It’s about leaving things behind that you love.
M: We really wanted to keep this song simple, just voices and guitars…
S: There’s dobro and acoustic, 12 string and electrics. I really love how all the guitars come together in the outro to create a beautiful chimey wall of sound.
‘Someone Like You’
M: The last song on Side A, this is probably our favorite song on the record.
S: The lyrics are simple and direct, and I think resonate with a lot of people. Basically, it’s “its not you, it’s me”.
M: This song is so heartbreaking, that I really wanted the sound to shift and feel like there was something good coming. We tried to create this feeling by subtly and gradually shifting to the major in the outro. Tony Buchan really brought the magic to this one…
S: We can’t wait to try and recreate it live.
‘Falling’
M: This is another song that’s bitter sweet – that could simply be about falling in love but is delicately nuanced with other themes and feelings.
S: Falling was one of the first songs we wrote after making the permanent move to the USA – I found myself in an unfamiliar house in Hollywood and the realization of being alone in a big city began to sink in. The lines, “coming from the hills” and “sound of this lonesome town, it echo’s all around” were definitely born from this feeling…
M: And the canyons that surround LA.
S: I think this song is about a turning point in a relationship – it’s about those moments when you notice a subtle nuance in someone’s movement or mannerism that invokes a feeling of nostalgia and reminds you of the good times you have shared with them. It’s hopeful, but open ended.
‘When We Were Young’
M: We wrote this song after our very first trip to America when we were still unsigned, uneverythinged….
S: A lot of the imagery was inspired by New York City and we tried to recreate the feeling of the city in the lyrics – the snow, the people on the street, the dive bars. It’s about missed opportunities and new ones.
M: Thematically it was very much inspired by the older people in my life… people who have a whole lifetime behind them, who are aching to give you a glimpse at the person obscured by a withered exterior…. In Sydney, that older person was Arthur, who lived in my building and worked at a strip club in ‘the cross’. He always looked out for me, asking “are you alright?” whenever I’d see him, and berating me for not wearing a jacket if it was cold out! I can only imagine what kind of life this man has lived and the things he’s seen! My LA Arthur is Layla, who’s lived in my building for 25 years….she always looks so glamorous when she gets ready for church but misses the girl she once was….. she often shows me pictures from when she was young, lamenting “I wish you met me then!”. We also chat about crime tv shows and I help her with her Facebook.
‘Independence Day’
S: This song was written on the 4th July 2014, on our first Independence Day in the US, when we were staying in LA. Early that morning, it seemed like everyone else in the area had got away for the holiday weekend and I took a walk around the neighborhood. It seemed like a ghost town. The streets were lined with little American flags and when I got back from the walk I just had the idea for ‘red, white and blue staring at me’. The story of that song unfolded really quickly – It starts with waking up alone and recreating the events of the night before and then ultimately about coming to terms with the consequences of your mistakes.
M: We have always admired the story telling writing of Bob Dylan & Paul Simon and I think this track is the closest we’ve come to that story telling style. We wanted to keep the production simple and raw
S: like civil war era
M: so that it felt like we were just sitting around someone’s kitchen table singing with a guitar and harmonica.
‘Better Way to Go’
S: This track started out as a slow Neil Young-esque dark ballad, but once we got into the studio with the band we decided to pick up the tempo and rock it out a bit more. It’s one I’m really looking forward to playing live. It’s about taking responsibility for your own shit and not blaming other people for the things that aren’t working out in your own life. There’s also a theme running through it about putting on a brave face even though you are going through hell in private.
M: Our friend Reuben Alexander back home in Australia, recorded some harmonica ideas for us on his laptop and emailed them over to us in the studio. Mogis thought they sounded so good that we just put them on the record!
‘Nothing Ever Comes My Way’
M: Nearly didn’t make the record, but a few friends really loved it and said it had to be on there (moxy!). We recorded it live without a click and it’s the closest we get to really rocking out. We love the gritty electric that Davey Lane added!
‘Don’t Ask’
M: Is another track we recorded live without a click and the piano & vocals you hear are just one take. I was really sick that day and thought we’d overdub my vocals later…we didn’t.
S: It’s the last song on the record as it’s such a full on song emotionally that we felt like nothing could follow it.
‘Whistling Dixie’
M: Is a country song, based around the title – which means to ‘engage in unrealistic, hopeful fantasizing’.
S: The expression itself also alludes to the song “Dixie” and the vain hope that the Confederacy, known as Dixie, would win the American Civil War. The song is basically about looking at the world through rose coloured glasses and is very melancholic and nostalgic. I think Mogis’ pedal steel really helps capture this mood.
‘Argentina’
M: Neither of us has ever been to Argentina…so the song is about a place more imagined than real…. The inside cover of the album is a photograph of a mountain range taken by my favourite Australian photographer Mclean Stephenson. The mountain range is The Remarkables (in New Zealand), but I guess this mountain represents what I imagine Argentina to be….
S: I always pictured it as a beautiful and exotic place. It came to represent a place where things will all be OK.
M: It’s a song to our love about the place we’ll meet again one day….like the top of the empire state building on valentines day – but Argentina.
