Brisbane’s Alice Night has just released her debut album, the accusatory Culture How Could You?
“We have to be brave these days,” she cries on album opener ‘Brave’, the album’s themes coming through loud and clear through Alice’s gorgeous, theatrical tones. A NIDA student and playwright, her debut record is appropriately dramatic and, being the product of a collaboration with ARIA nominated and APRA award winning composer Robert Davidson of Topology, it’s also a joy to listen to.
Having sold out her Melbourne show, Alice will be playing her hometown of Brisbane this Saturday at The Zoo, followed by a show at Sydney’s Oxford Circus on Thursday July 21. Tickets are available now.
BRAVE
This song was written in New York, I was looking down at the city from a high apartment reflecting on the sounds and sights, sirens and drama. Amongst this setting I found a moment of stillness and contemplation that allowed me to reflect on many different things. These subjects are woven together into the song with the one uniting message… We have to be brave these days.
The production expresses an intensity alongside fragility with electronic found sound and delicate piano meeting somewhere and having a sonic conversation. This song calls for healing and courage first personally and then culturally.
DON’T FORGET THAT YOU WERE BORN
This track has a simple but I think important message. I repeat the same lyrics over and over like a mantra ‘don’t forget that you were born.’ This songs asks us to remember the freedom we were born with and that we can discard the unnecessary, pointless and sometimes poisonous thinking that is often promoted by modern society.
In the second section of the song I stand at the edge and enter a new reality of love and gratitude and recognition. The sounds on this track make me very happy, energetic rhythm and a gorgeous release moment towards the end of the song.
WITH ME
This is the first song that composer Robert Davidson and I worked on together. We were discussing family and connections and how incredible it is to be able to share life with people you love. This song looks at cycles, from child, to adult, to the ageing process and to death.
The chorus recognises that our footsteps will one day be washed away. This song asks us to be present to the amazing opportunity to be connected. The final section of the song looks at the many ways we are bound together and our innate oneness.
I’D DO IT ALL AGAIN
Sometimes powerful love cannot continue. This is the first proper break up song I’ve written. It reflects a state of acceptance despite all the painful moments I shared with a particular person. It is easy to blame another person or blame yourself and be riddled with should haves and could haves.
This song attempts to look at the truth of the situation and face the darkness and light, the love and the hate. I am acknowledging the experience of love and all that can be learned in relationship as an important and fascinating part of life.
I often write songs as a way to communicate with people, this song is directly written to somebody in the hope that he will understand me. It is catharsis and forgiveness and singing it helps me to move on in an honest and loving way.
CURIOUS CHILD
This is a cute little piece that is gentle to listen to but still contains some strong lyrical concepts. I’m discussing innocence and asking that we remember what it was like to little, to be playful, to dream wildly, to laugh easily.
I am also looking at how certain people become the adults they are, how people can traverse very intense terrain perhaps out of curiosity. The adult playground though can be a heavy and dangerous place, a place in which one can forget simple truths like the power of love, gentleness and dreaming. Liam Malby the producer has created such a gorgeous soundscape to tell this story.
LILLY PIPER FAYE
While in New York writing material for this album I met many fantastical strangers. This song directly reflects one of these meetings. We had both just seen the same show in which the musicians were all wearing stethoscopes and playing to the rhythm of their hearts and breath. I sat with Lilly Piper Faye afterwards and discussed life in detail, this song is a gift to her.
I love the subtle flourishes of the double bass in this song. Robert Davidson’s bass is 200 years old, there is history and story there, as with all people if you take time to get to know them.
GREY SKY DAY
This track reflects the power of nature. I wrote this a couple of hours out of New York in the fall. I had a musical mansion to create in for a couple of days and I let myself dream this up. The image of a wild white horse was inspired by a friend of mine who is very connected with nature and wildness, unafraid and bold.
The lyrics ask you to follow your heart and spirit and inner nature. The vocal and musical improvisation section at the end of the song is one of my personal favourite moments on the album. It’s a time of elation, trust and embracing unexpected change. I love string sections and the energy that is created here is transporting to me.
FALLING INTO FREEDOM
I think that often we are told that the life we want to live is very far away from our current reality, that we have to spend decades meditating and processing and what not. This song looks at the idea that peace is perhaps really not as far away as we are told. We can invite in new realities, new mental patterns, new self perception and participate with life in these ways.
I also look at the idea of birth-rite. We were not put on this planet to be controlled or mentally unwell, we are here to heal, to help, to feel. I am asking for transition in this song my own and others.
BRAINS IN THEIR CLAWS
For this track Robert Davison and I had a conversation and recorded it. The lyrics for this song are my word for word response to the question ‘what was your first thought when you woke up this morning?’ my answer is interesting to me.
When set to music you can feel the message in a different way, it is quite theatrical in nature and invites the darker sounds of featuring noise and drone and found sound artists Ma Ya Ga Ng Re Ne and Thomas Green. I recorded these vocals in Tasmania with producer Chris Townsend in one take… feeling it. This is a personal favourite from the album for me.
TRIGGER
This song inspired the title of the album. It marks the transition from asking particular people to be accountable for their actions to also and importantly asking culture itself to step up to the table and take responsibility. For example we see advertising that actually prompts insecurity and pointless consumerism and yet there is never anyone’s signature at the bottom of it, it’s anonymous and therefore very difficult to shift.
Collectively we create culture, we make decisions that impact reality, our own and others. Trigger looks at the loss, silent wars and death caused by mental unwellness and evil intent. This song is taking the power back saying NO culture… you cannot raise my children, you cannot have me, I will find another way unless you/we find another way.
