Quiet As A Mouse reflects on eight years of growth and unpacking the push to keep looking forward in the new forthcoming album “Nostalgia is fine…but…”
This is your second album under the name ‘Quiet as a Mouse’. How is this album different from your debut?
It’s been eight years since my first Quiet as a Mouse album (‘Ís It Funny When It Hurts?’), so I think people will hear the development with this new album (‘Nostalgia is fine…but…’ ). A few of the new album’s songs were written in Scotland but the majority were written here in Brisbane, perhaps that will come through. I made this album the same way I do for any release, to write and record the best set of songs I possibly can and then apart from choosing album title, tracklists and artwork etc, basically let the album be, let it live and hope people enjoy it or some of the songs on it.
You’ve lived everywhere from London to Edinburgh and now Brisbane. Has the move to Australia shaped any of the themes and perspectives across this record?
I think probably subconsciously it will have done. Just from the experience of moving back to Australia in 2019 (I lived in Australia during my teen years) and the experiences of not having been in Australia for years and getting used to the changes in from back. The differences between the UK and Australia can be both subtle and stark, which is a little surprising for some people who think the people and countries would be similar.
The title ‘Nostalgia is fine…but…’ suggests a tension between looking back and moving forward — what does that phrase mean to you personally?
You are right with the tension, I think it’s important to look back but not stay there too long (if possible, as it can be hard sometimes). Moving forward and pushing forward is brave and best whilst hopefully not forgetting your past and trying to learn from the past. It’s also meant to be a call or call out to society and culture that we have gone too far with nostalgia in my opinion. I’d personally rather see an exciting new artist or band break through, rather than what we have which seems to be a never ending amount of older artists and bands (as much as I love many of them and their music influences me) clogging people’s attention and venue’s. I feel that there’s not many more exciting things than hearing and seeing a new band come through who are writing great songs and playing music with real verve and passion. I just wish that all forms of art in general had more up and coming voices being heard by more people.
From grunge and punk to alt-country and indie, you move across many genres. How do you decide which sound best serves each song?
I go with my gut and I let that lead me. Having said that I do love to collaborate, with this album the producer John Prefontaine (Resonate Music https://resonatemusic.com.au/) had a big hand in helping me with some of the choices for the songs. One of the main things I’ve always loved about collaborating is when we take a song or part of a song in a direction I didn’t see or hear and it goes in an even more interesting or better direction. Ultimately it’s always been for me, what is best for the song, is what should always happen.
What do you hope listeners take away after hearing the album from start to finish?
I hope they enjoy it or like I said earlier even if they like a couple of the songs. I feel sometimes, one of my songs will hit a person instantly or quickly, but generally my songs and music are slow burns, require your time and patience, the more time you invest and spend with the songs, the more likely you are to get them, understand me as a writer and enjoy them. I also hopefully listeners feel emotions from the album and that it makes them think, even if it’s a line of lyrics or a song title that catches them. I loved writing these songs for this new album, making the album and promoting the album too. Hopefully the listeners feel and hear that enjoyment come through.
You can hear Quiet As A Mouse‘s latest album, ‘“Nostalgia is fine…but…” on all streaming platforms this Friday. This is an I Don’t Blame You Media interview.
