[First filed: Sep 9, 2010 @ 9:33]
RiotACT favourite Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens are launching their album at the Street Theatre. Here’s what they had to say about it in their media release:
Three years after the success of their first release, Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens launch their highly anticipated sophomore album, Family Pets on Saturday September 25 at The Street Theatre.
Family Pets is the culmination of Julia’s past three years in Canberra; the heartache, tragedy, growth and unbridled joy she has been dealt in this ever-transitory big-town-small-city. Since 2005, Julia and The Deep Sea Sirens have enraptured and enchanted our nation’s capital with their folk-oriented ballads, odes, elegies and love songs.‘I feel that Family Pets is not just one step forward in terms of the development of the songwriting and arrangements, but a few miles forward.’ Julia states. The title track, Family Pets is named after the very things which exposed the undertones of the whole album to her, perhaps best described in the album’s opening lines: “What is it that lights this spark, revealing that we’re in the dark? For some it’s love, for some regrets, for me it was my family pets”
Recorded on vintage tape machines at Linear Recording Studios in Sydney, Julia reveals ‘The fear of not being able to click the ‘undo’ button forced us to deliver performances far more potent than we had expected, bringing us closer to that exhilarating buzz we feel during live performances, which is reflected in the energy of the whole album’.
Julia (acoustic guitar, banjo) is accompanied by a formidable multi-instrumentalist line-up of Deep Sea Sirens: Nicholas Peddle, Lachlan Coventry, Sam McCusker and Catherine Keely who between them will use drums, bass, electric guitar, cello, autoharp, glockenspiel, and a casio keyboard found at Vinnies in Belconnen to colour their alt-folk tunes with hints of country, pop and, (Julia sarcastically or possibly even truthfully adds…) electro.
In a special one-night-only performance at The Street Theatre, the Deep Sea Sirens line-up will expand to include guest appearances from artists who have contributed to Family Pets including ‘The Deep Sea Choir’, made up of an all-star cast of Canberra’s singer-songwriters.
The evening will feature songs already familiar to the band’s Canberra audience, alongside songs which will be premiered on the night.
Family Pets was funded in part by Arts ACT, with the band coming up with the rest of the funds by touring and gigging relentlessly. Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens opened the New Years Eve celebration in the centre of the city and have supported high profile artists Newton Falkner (UK), Kate Miller-Heidke, Tim Rogers (You Am I), Skipping Girl Vinegar and played festivals such as The National Folk Festival, Corinbank, Coastfest. Their first album (self-titled) is still played on community radio stations across the country and Triple J.
Opening the proceedings on September 25 will be local trio Hashemoto, playing an acoustic set on piano, double bass and guitar with their trademark luscious vocal harmonies.