While I’d hate to disagree with Courtney Barnett, it seems we were wise to put her, and many other Australian acts, on a pedestal this year. With her debut LP Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit scoring consistently high on the lists of 2015s best albums, it is also unsurprising to see the same lists dominated by Tame Impala’s Currents.
However, while these two albums pushed Australian music to the forefront of the musical conversation in a way that hasn’t been since in a long time, there was also a wealth of other home-grown releases that were received highly this year.
Gang of Youths‘ and Szymon’s releases this year, The Positions and Tigersapp, respectively, also sent big waves around the country, and also the world, with their highly emotive and clearly resonant narratives. Gang of Youths in particular seized their day, with three national tours in the latter half of the year, and a growing and naturally rabid fanbase.
[include_post id=”457105″] What’s interesting to note is that despite the lack of natural overlap between the genres and sounds played by these acts, there was a trend of highly personal storytelling, and an undercurrent of self-doubt and deprecation present in all of these releases. With Bad//Dreems, Parkway Drive and British India also releasing well-received albums this year, it seems the “Australian spirit”, and ability to cut through bullshit, is performing on an international level.
There is an obvious appeal to this mode of songwriting, and while it isn’t always so blatantly obvious or advertised in such a way, there nevertheless is a body of work that the world identified as Australian music, and something about it was just so quintessentially ‘Australian’, in whatever abstract and subjective terms that word means to anybody outside of the country.
There was also a beauty in the mundane that was explored in many of these releases; from Kevin Parker singing about running into an ex during his trip to the dry cleaners, to Courtney Barnett singing about lattes and the process of moving in to a new house, to Gang of Youths terrifying illustrations about hospitals and quiet car rides.
Again, while these fall into personal moments, rather than a consolidated national effort, it reveals the underlying insight that some our very best and brightest could place and order into a song.
It’s understandable, and also infinitely strange, that millions of people around the world could find peace from their own doubts in the voices of our own, whether they be a high falsetto, a quintessentially Australian twang, or a quiet boom.
Regardless, Australia is now a ‘scene’ within itself. This was the year the efforts of many disparate artists were recognised as a whole, and that voice rang throughout the world. Its recognition and it’s a promising sign of things to come.
It’s a well-deserved focus on the musical efforts of a country that consistently produces excellent artists, who are sometimes not met with the reception they deserve. From this point in, let’s hope that next year shows the world how much more we’ve got to offer.
