My Life In Music

The Sydney singer-songwriter on her musical inspirations: “It’s not about perfection, it’s about getting a feeling across…”

FIONA APPLE Extraordinary Machine EPIC, 2005

This record came to me at a really crucial moment in life, when you’re on the threshold between listening to Top 40 radio and what your parents like, and figuring out what speaks to you as an individual. I heard the title track when I was 13, at my first boyfriend’s house. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I have never heard anything like this before.’ I hadn’t really paid that much attention to lyrics before, it was all about melodies and sounds for me, but some of the lines just punched out at me. I was like, ‘How does someone come up with that? Where does that even come from?’ It suddenly opened up this world of, ‘Oh, songwriting is a real thing.’

FIONA APPLE The Idler Wheel… EPIC, 2012

This one came to me when I was 21. I’d started playing in bands, but my role was usually just singing the high harmonies because I’d been trained as a soprano and I always thought that having a pretty voice was all I was good at. When it came out, initially I didn’t like it – it was really strange and unnerving. But after a while I loved it, because it felt like an artist doing exactly what she wanted to do. I think it was the first time I heard a woman sing in a way that wasn’t attractive. But it made me realise the power in imperfection, because it’s not about singing notes perfectly, it’s about getting a message and a feeling across.

LAURA MARLING Once I Was An Eagle VIRGIN, 2013

This one looms very large in my life, but I don’t actually like listening to it any more because it makes me too sad. I’m thinking about it a lot right now, because I’m driving across America by myself. When I was 22, I came to America for the first time, with no plans. I didn’t have a phone but I did have an ipod with two albums on it, including this one, so I listened to it a disgusting amount of times because I was just catching buses everywhere. In a way, that trip was the happiest time of my life! So I associate this album with an intense freedom that I don’t think I’ll ever feel again.

LEONARD COHEN Death Of A Ladies’ Man WARNER BROS, 1977

I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite Leonard Cohen album, but it’s the record that got me into him – strangely, because I know people have a lot of thoughts about that album and the super-crazy Phil Spector production. But I went to a show once and the opening band played “Memories”. I remember thinking, ‘This band is amazing, because that’s one of the best songs I’ve ever heard!’ I love that song so much, it’s so funny and sad and silly, and that’s my favourite music when you mix all those things together. Obviously I knew about Leonard Cohen, but I don’t think I had an entry point until then.

SHARON VAN ETTEN Tramp JAGJAGUWAR, 2012

For a lot of people I know it was pretty big because it came after that big folk revival period where it felt like everyone was playing music that didn’t really reflect where they were actually from. I’d go to these open mics in Sydney and people were singing about the Appalachian mountains. I got sucked into it – I’m as guilty as anyone! But I think I always knew it wasn’t where my heart was. I remember hearing Tramp and thinking, ‘Thank God, there it is!’ You still had these beautifully written songs but they could be louder and more aggressive and less twee. I thought, this is a good reference point for what I could do.

GILLIAN WELCH Time (The Revelator)

ACONY, 2001

If you went to songwriting school – which I didn’t, and I’m not sure exists anyway – this record would be a prescribed text. This is what songwriting is, to me. I listen to this record all the time, just to remind myself of what I’m striving for. It doesn’t necessarily follow standard songwriting structures, but her songs are so memorable and engaging and well written. She’s rooted in tradition but she’s not harking back to the good old days or singing about things that aren’t relevant to today either. “I Dream A Highway” is one of the best closing tracks on any album. I look up to her a lot, she’s a legend.

GRIMES Art Angels 4AD, 2015

This is one of my comfort companion albums. I think it’s actually impossible for me to get sick of it, because I’ve probably listened to it 150,000 times. They’re great songs for one, and great production. Also it came to me at the moment when I started touring my first album and I got that thing where you feel like you don’t deserve to be where you are. I was feeling very exposed and vulnerable and I’d listen to this album daily as a pep talk. I’d sort of pretend that I was Grimes, or at least channel the confidence she has on that record and take it on stage with me every night. It got me through a pretty tough time.

FRAZEY FORD Indian Ocean NETTWERK, 2014

This album sounds beautiful because she has the Hi Rhythm Section who played with Al Green, so the instrumentation is face-meltingly amazing, and she’s just got one of those voices that is so comforting. There are a couple of songs I listen to as therapy, because you can’t really get much mental health support on the road. I’ve definitely powerwalked down some foreign streets to the song “Gun” when I feel like I need the confidence to stand up for myself. There’s a repeated line at the end: “My joy takes nothing from you”. Especially in this industry, when sometimes it’s hard to feel proud and happy of what you’ve achieved, it’s good to hear that.