STACK July 2017 Issue 153

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In 2013 a young woman from NSW named Celia
Pavey wowed Australia with an appearance on
The Voice. Now known as Vera Blue, she's back
with an elegant new effort called Perennial, a true
showcase for her remarkable voice helmed by Andy
and Tom Mak (Bertie Blackman, Boy & Bear) with
much of the material penned in California during a US
writing trip. The album was written through the prism
of that old chestnut, mending the broken heart and
each song is placed to reflect three chapters.
Indeed, the first album single was entitled
Mended. "Perennial flows in phases, of how I
developed as a person over 18 months, to include
my thoughts, emotions and even fantasies," the
songwriter tells STACK. "The second chapter
of Perennial is very special to me. I was
beginning to move past the pain and
heartbreak. Songs like Private and Lady
Powers are about dignity, strength and
empowerment. Magazine is a shift of my
attention to the curiosity of what it would
be like to be famous." Of course, like any
artist, Vera Blue takes the subject at hand
and gives it a healthy twist. When she sings
about a certain someone 'crawling back to
me' on Give In, there’s a creepy electronic
ticking effect, akin to a centipede. "Completely
unintentional!" she insists. "That moment is
chaotic and dramatic, surfacing feelings of
anger and frustration. I am a lover of Trap music, so
the use of ‘ticking’ trap hats and heavy drawn-out
bass drops create the angst in that moment."
Vera Blue has a burgeoning on-line presence as
well. Apart from a cheeky vocal warm up
video with Montaigne (recommended for all
aspiring vocalists), the clip for her track Private
gained plaudits for a remarkable physical
performance many can't believe wasn't
digitally altered. "Alex is an incredible dancer.
We didn't use digital manipulation, we didn't need
to. His movements were all improvised. The clip was
really bought to life through chaotic film techniques
and Alex's body movements." ZKR
Vera BLue
08 JULY 2017
visit MUSIC NEWS
continued
These days we all snap
phone pics at gigs: but
who sits and sketches
a band? STACK proudly
presents SKETCHY GIGS!
SKETCHy
GIGS
Gizzard
Murder
Universe!
Perennial
by Vera Blue
is out now
via Universal
Music.
Murder of
the Universe
by King Gizzard
and the Lizard
Wizard is
out now via
Inertia .
Blink and you'll miss King
Gizzard and the Lizard
Wizard. Apart from wowing
North America on their current
tour, and having their name
mangled by Eddie Izzard on
N.P. R (Izzard, Wizard, Lizard,
Gizzard: geddit?) Murder of
the Universe is the Melbourne
act's 10th album since 2012.
So much for 'lazy musicians',
then. M.O.T.U is a psyched-up
stomp through visions of the
apocalypse. A female narrator
opens the album intoning
"As soon as the dust settles/
you can see/ a new world/ in
place of where the old one
had been". Cue kookily molten
riffing and quintessential 'evil
madman' vocal stylings as
K.G.L.W propel us through four
variations on the track Altered
Beast, before diving into tracks
like Soy Protein Munt Machine,
Han Tyumi the Confused Cyborg
and Vomit Coffin. "We’re living
in dystopian times...it’s hard
not to reflect that in our music,”
says frontman Stu Mackenzie.
“Some scientists predict the
downfall of humanity is as
likely to come at the hands
of Artificial Intelligence, as it
is war or viruses or climate
change." Dipping into any
and all musical genres and
hooked up to a healthy sense
of the absurd, Gizz are here
with their deathray ready to
destroy Metropolis, and you
dear listener, are tied to the
tracks. Four (!) more albums are
rumoured to appear in the next
12 months. Hop on here, buy
the ticket and take the ride.
JA
Bad Dreems sketched by Jennifer
Dou at Woolly Mammouth,
Brisbane June 8 2017.
Check Jennifer Dou's sketches on
Instagram: @sketchygigs