Since coming to the rather sensible realisation that playing in a band is preferable by far to dealing with things like jobs or rent, Melbournians Tom Iansek and Jo Syme have been quick to get on with it: half a dozen EPs, including the themed ‘Seasons’ releases, supporting tours with acts like The Vasco Era and Midlake, as well as numerous solo shows. With their debut long-player, the pair have assembled a solid collection that sums up their work to date without quite hitting the electric rawness of their EPs.
Loosely unified around the thought that Big Scary are on a holiday from the ‘real world’, Vacation is rife with images of uncertainty. “I can quote my favourite line / I can calculate the distance in sine” Iansek declares on second single ‘Gladiator’, before recognising his inability to effect events: “it makes no difference anyway”. Though some of the material here seems a touch adolescent, Iansek is able to inject a whole universe of frustrated vigour into a line like “I’m just bored / I don’t know what to do with my life” (the piano-powered ‘Mix-Tape’) with a throaty yowl that is completely convincing.
Though the genre-tripping for which the pair quickly became known is less flambouyantly displayed here, Iansek’s writing retains all its versatility; the stripped down blues of ‘Purple’ is followed by the synth-blurred ‘Child In A Tree’ and the contemplative downer ‘Bad Friends’, in which Iansek’s beautiful upper register lends “my friends are all getting drunk somewhere without me” a genuine poignancy. But the highlight is a re-recording of ‘Falling Away’ from the Autumn EP, which casts a small shadow across the rest of the record.
Impressive as much for the wide-ranging breadth of Iansek’s songwriting as the clear-eyed certainty of the pair’s performance, Vacation is a promising debut LP.
First published in The Brag, Iss. 432, October 3rd 2011
Showing posts with label Jo Syme. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jo Syme. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Big Scary
Two things about Melbournite two-piece Big Scary (full stop): a) their name is charmingly inapt, containing all the solemn eyed intensity of a child passing judgement on a thunderstorm and b) they are versatile, ambitious, assured and well and truly on the make.
Big Scary formed back in 2008 after Tom Iansek (guitar, piano, vocals) and Jo Syme (drums, guitar, ukulele, vocals) returned toAustralia
The results are eclectic, the band sailing through bright, heady waters where defining choices have yet to be made and each new song is an entity unto itself. Their EP At the Mercy of the Elements mixed crunchy garage (‘Hey Somebody’) with piano-driven indie (‘Falling Away’) while their new release Autumn veers into Bon Iver inflected folk. So, what’s the go?
“I guess we’re trying to figure that out for ourselves” says Tom. “We write parts based on what it feels like the song should have. We sort of mix it up as much as we can and try and make it fun for ourselves and squeeze as much out of being a two piece as we can.”
‘Squeeze in as much as fits’ may as well be the band motto, with ‘ain’t nothin’ gonna stop us!’ running in close second. With At the Mercy of the Elements only released in February, the band has already moved onto bigger things, with Autumn being their first EP release in a planned set of four, one for each season slated for release over the course of 2010.
“The idea of nature is a bit of a recurring theme in our music and my lyrics” explains Tom. “We recorded [At the Mercy of the Elements] during a week of crazy weather at the end of last year – fire, rain, dust storms and hail, all at the same time, all over the country. I suppose that’s where the four seasons idea stemmed from originally.”
It’s a lovely idea that’s off to a promising start. While b-side ‘Microwave Pizza’ is a finely crafted miniature, reflective of the self-disclosed influence of Bon Iver on the songwriter, ‘Autumn’ is a warm and wistful piece of pop, suggesting bracing mornings with a nip in the air as well as a certain precipitatory nursery rhyme.
“I’m definitely a cold weather person” says Tom. “Autumn is my favourite season – I get over summer really quickly, it’s just a bit of a drain by the end and I can’t wait for it to be over. Autumn it cools down and you can actually start to do stuff again. In autumn I really come alive, creatively and in other ways.”
Wanderlust for example, the travel bug having well and truly sunk its teeth. Big Scary just returned from a five week tour around and about supporting the Vasco Era – which was “SO MUCH fun” – and are planning on accompanying the release of each of their seasonal EPs with a tour to different parts of the country. Tom is enthusiastic about the possibilities.
“Before the tour I loved recording and I still do love being in a studio. But I really love being on stage. It’s really a great adrenalin rush, it’s just forty minutes of fun. I think we’ve surprised ourselves.”
Big Scary formed back in 2008 after Tom Iansek (guitar, piano, vocals) and Jo Syme (drums, guitar, ukulele, vocals) returned to
The results are eclectic, the band sailing through bright, heady waters where defining choices have yet to be made and each new song is an entity unto itself. Their EP At the Mercy of the Elements mixed crunchy garage (‘Hey Somebody’) with piano-driven indie (‘Falling Away’) while their new release Autumn veers into Bon Iver inflected folk. So, what’s the go?
“I guess we’re trying to figure that out for ourselves” says Tom. “We write parts based on what it feels like the song should have. We sort of mix it up as much as we can and try and make it fun for ourselves and squeeze as much out of being a two piece as we can.”
‘Squeeze in as much as fits’ may as well be the band motto, with ‘ain’t nothin’ gonna stop us!’ running in close second. With At the Mercy of the Elements only released in February, the band has already moved onto bigger things, with Autumn being their first EP release in a planned set of four, one for each season slated for release over the course of 2010.
“The idea of nature is a bit of a recurring theme in our music and my lyrics” explains Tom. “We recorded [At the Mercy of the Elements] during a week of crazy weather at the end of last year – fire, rain, dust storms and hail, all at the same time, all over the country. I suppose that’s where the four seasons idea stemmed from originally.”
It’s a lovely idea that’s off to a promising start. While b-side ‘Microwave Pizza’ is a finely crafted miniature, reflective of the self-disclosed influence of Bon Iver on the songwriter, ‘Autumn’ is a warm and wistful piece of pop, suggesting bracing mornings with a nip in the air as well as a certain precipitatory nursery rhyme.
“I’m definitely a cold weather person” says Tom. “Autumn is my favourite season – I get over summer really quickly, it’s just a bit of a drain by the end and I can’t wait for it to be over. Autumn it cools down and you can actually start to do stuff again. In autumn I really come alive, creatively and in other ways.”
Wanderlust for example, the travel bug having well and truly sunk its teeth. Big Scary just returned from a five week tour around and about supporting the Vasco Era – which was “SO MUCH fun” – and are planning on accompanying the release of each of their seasonal EPs with a tour to different parts of the country. Tom is enthusiastic about the possibilities.
“Before the tour I loved recording and I still do love being in a studio. But I really love being on stage. It’s really a great adrenalin rush, it’s just forty minutes of fun. I think we’ve surprised ourselves.”
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