STACK August 2016 Issue 142

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Our Michael (Dwyer, freelance
writer) tried to scare me just
before my interview with
Bernard Fanning, insisting the musician
was a "tiger" who would "rip [my] face
off." If by ripping my face off he meant
being the loveliest person alive, then
yes, Fanning is 100 per cent a ferocious
face-ripper. This issue I also spoke to
Sarah Mary Chadwick (whose amazing
release Roses Always Die Michael
reviewed), Montaigne, Wild Beasts and
more. Get in.
Zoë Radas (Music Editor)
MAD
FOR
LIVE
MUSIC
05
NEWS MUSIC
MUSIC
We’re constantly out and about at all the best shows
Australia-wide – go to to have a gander.
EZRA FURMAN
Following the critical success of his
2015 album Perpetual Motion People,
Ezra Furman will this month release
EP Big Fugitive Life. Its six tracks are
bursting with a spirit that in one arm
embraces '60s rock 'n' roll, swaggy
syncopated sax and a Freddie Mercury-
sized comprehension of rhythm and
showmanship, and in the other cuddles
an emotive, close-mic'd acoustica with
tonky piano and vocals full of heartache.
Furman has described the release as the
close of a "beautiful, insane chapter" in
his life: "Big Fugitive Life is a group of
our favourite orphaned songs that have
banded together to form a unit. They
are focused on the theme of the mind
unmoored – those of us who have been
left to drift unsupervised through the
modern world. The first three songs are
our vision of rock and roll. A madness
that overtakes your mind and body. It's
wanting to go somewhere you've never
been, knowing you're on your way. The
second side is acoustic guitar as open
wound, a troubled mind on display.
Emotional in a different way, tender
like a bruise. It includes The Refugee,
my first song entirely concerned with
my Jewish background and present, a
song dedicated to my grandfather who
fled the Nazis as well as to all of the
refugees desperate for a home today.
We dedicate this record to refugees of
all kinds, all over the world. May all the
wanderers find the homes they seek,
and may those with power welcome
them as fellow citizens of humanity.”
Furman has further alluded to an
upcoming full-length, which we really
couldn't be more excited about: " Keep
an ear out for our next phase," he says.
"We've been dreaming big."
Dinosaur Jr - review on pg 22
Big Fugitive Life by
Ezra Furman is out August 19
via Bella Union.
The Kills in Melbourne
last month.
Photography: Chip Mooney.
Have you checked out our live reviews and gallery section online?