Washington - Someone Else In Mind
Such a sweet little b-side which, like the title track of her debut album, morphs into something very different live. I don’t quite know why, but I seem to have a real soft spot for this song, it’s odd, in a nice way, mostly because I never really actively listen to it, but any time it comes by, it’s very welcome.
Top 10 of 2011
3: Washington - Insomnia
The release of this caught me completely by surprise - as in I missed it being released and came to it I think months afterwards. I think it’s being called an EP, but at 8 tracks, and clocking in at over 30 minutes, if this was the 60s or 70s, it would be an album right? I’m calling it an album. It definitely plays like one. Every single song is important here, telling stories surrounding what sounds to me like different stages in a relationship. Some tracks are big pop production numbers featuring kazoo hooks, some delicate piano and string ballads. Everything here cuts right to the chase, there isn’t a wasted note, and who could say that of pretty much any music release these days?
Top Tracks: Skeleton Key, Insomnia, Holy Moses
Washington - Sunday Best
I really wanted to post the full video of her performance at the ARIA awards this year (the only 5 minutes of the whole slog worth tuning in for), but sadly Channel Ten has removed any trace of it from YouTube.
This picture doesn’t come close to the fabulousness of the live performance. I played the clip (which is available for purchase on iTunes) for Kate and Tina who immediately loved it. Then we had a very odd conversation. Well, Kate and I knew what we were talking about but we’ve known each other for over ten years. She asked me if the rest of the album was like this track. I said “yes, it all sounds like this, but it doesn’t really look like this - it was all just done up for the ARIAs”. Kate nodded. Tina just looked at us and wondered what the hell we were on, I’m sure. But it’s a valid question, really, when confronted and wowed with a spectacle like this. I mean, she was dancing on top of a piano surrounded by guys waving peacock feathers.
How often have you been absolutely blown away by a live show, only to go home, listen to the LP and think “right…that was a bit flat”? I wouldn’t want to drag them along to her next live show and have them expecting dancers and feathers and have them go home thinking “well, that was a bit flat” just because they’d only ever met the work when dressed up for a special occasion. I think I’m running the metaphor into the ground now, so I’ll stop. Enjoy the “ordinary” video clip - this is how it looks like when it’s not dressed up for an awards night. It’s probably not all that far off anyway.
Washington - I Believe You Liar
One evening, prior to seeing Angie Hart at Newtown, John and I were wandering around the place and so popped into Hum on King Street. This was playing over the in-store radio. The whole album. I made sure that I left with it.
It’s fantastic! It’s quite up, but not saccharine or gratingly so - that is largely just musically though. The lyrics are definitely on the harder side. I like them in the same way I like certain ABBA songs - the content isn’t cheery, but the execution is deceptively so and they really kind of creep up on you at times. At first glance “Cement” is big and brash and so hook laden (chimes in the chorus? neat little backing vocals? a clear delivery with a nice bassline and good variation between chorus and verse?) and then you listen to the words and man! This woman has just been emotionally punched in the sarcophagus! It’s fantastic!
The quieter tracks, such as “Underground”, “Lover / Soldier” and “Spanish Temper” break up the punchy attitude nicely, without dragging it down. And the title track, my goodness. The reverby piano and string wash are straight off Kate Bush’s “The Kick Inside”, but feel referential rather than derivative. It’s a stunner.
I’d say something here about it being good work for a debut album, but that always reads as though you’re making concessions because it is their first release - this record needs none of that. Nice work Megan, congratulations.
Washington - I Believe You Liar
I bought this album because it was playing over the in-store stereo when I was browsing Hum in Newtown and it sounded fun and catchy and well written and well produced. This song, the title track and closing track to the LP, is utterly captivating. It’s so plain and so lush at the same time. It doesn’t sound anything like the rest of the album musically, but it still fits in perfectly, and is just a fantastic way to close the record. I’d say that the whole thing is going to make my favourites list at the end of the year.
Also, she’s Australian (she being Megan Washington), so there’s that going for her too. I’m looking forward to seeing her live somewhere now, and kicking myself for skipping out on her when she opened for Kate Miller-Heidke last year because I didn’t know who she was and thought I had better things to do with my time. Oh, how everything is so clear in hindsight.
