Press Release: Introducing the Found Sounds album: 'Changing Light'
Photo by Paul J Thomas
It’s that sound you hear when you’re out walking the dog and the serenity is interrupted by building construction noise that drills into your head like a hangover turned up to eleven. Wave after wave of steel pylons hammered into the ground making your back teeth rattle... It’s the noise that wakes you from your sleep as the train in the next suburb slews by in the middle of the night... or the heavy door that slams and reverberates in the fire escape at work as you slip out early before anyone notices that you’re gone...
Always with an ear open to the world, Brisbane singer songwriter Phill McKenna was awarded a ‘Creative Sparks’ grant through The Brisbane City Council & Arts QLD, and tasked with creating an album of original songs built piece by piece out of sounds found around urban Brisbane. From underneath bridges, to building construction sites, to airport lounges; Phill invites the listener to engage differently with the soundtrack of everyday life, and the inspiration that it provides when we listen with an ear for its hidden rhythms, arcs and hooks. Everything significant. Everything fleeting. Everything connected. These field-recordings created the beds and rhythm tracks for a swag of original songs; and the much anticipated second album from Phill McKenna & The Water Signs.
Three years in the making, the song writing team of Phill McKenna, Clare Kildea and producer Dave Carter combined their folk-based songs around the rhythm and soundscape beds, producing a stunning 10 track album and cementing Phill McKenna & Clare Kildea as premium songsmiths in a city overflowing with celebrated writers and artists.
Track by track, in Phill’s own words:
Phill McKenna & The Water Signs - Changing Light
Track 1 - Steel & Concrete
The opening track heaves (literally) with the sounds of steel and concrete. I recorded the ramming of steel and concrete pylons used as foundations in a number of large building sites, sometimes driving around for hours trying to track down the location of the construction sounds wafting around the suburbs. The song evolved into a narrative about the endless pursuit of exploitation and consumerism; the politics of denial, and the future impacts that will be dealt to the generation that is in waiting.
“A generation pleads
A generation not yet seen
While we’re busy making steel & concrete”
Track 2 - Hold Me
This song features the sounds of vehicles passing over one of Brisbane’s famous landmarks -The Story Bridge. At 4am one weekday morning I stood underneath the bridge and recorded the “THUMPS” that are created when vehicles hit the expansion joints on their way across the bridge, producing the beautiful syncopated rhythms well known by locals. I wrote the song after reading Tim Winton’s book ‘Breath’, creating two characters driving along Australia’s east coast; as eager for the next wave as they are to leave behind their past. The song pulses to the hypnotic rhythm of the bridge thumps; while the sound of bush crickets stridulate like a needle across a vinyl record.
"You drive half the night with the windows down,
Holdin' on, starin' out, trying to see
Looking back, broken tracks in the black of night
You know you're afraid, but you sing anyway"
Track 3 - Sleep Tight
The thing I loved about recording this track was tracking the horn section in my little home in Brisbane. Humidity and heat; everyone was squashed in, with mattresses and homemade soundproofing and microphones spread all over the place.
In a similar fashion to track 2, I recorded the traffic noises of cars crossing the Juliette St Bridge in Greenslopes to create the rhythm bed for the song. Hand claps helped to create the rhythm I had in my head all along for this song.
Sleep Tight is part I of the Fly in-Fly out trilogy that follows a family based in South East Queensland involved in the Fly in-Fly out workforce in the mining industry. The husband regularly leaves home on a 2 week on-1 week off roster working in the mines in the northern part of QLD. The couple struggle to come to terms with a part-time long distance relationship, the impact on their lives and the lives of their kids (see/hear also track 8 and track 9).
“Retreat to Windows
Watching leaves blown across empty streets,
We talk of ordinary lives, in extraordinary times.”
Track 4 - Finally Found What I Lost
This is a song I wrote from the perspective of a good mate of mine who is coming to terms with advanced lymphoma. This track celebrates the desire for life, Brisbane heat and the iconic flowering Jacaranda trees that line many of our roads, parks and gardens. I recorded the Brisbane sound of summer insects that sing at dusk and into the early evening throughout the warmer months simply by placing a microphone on my outside back deck at home!
“I finally found what i lost
With each coming day
Down underneath Jacaranda trees
I finally found what i lost”
Track 5 - Leaves from Autumn Trees
Winter in the high country in South East Queensland is cold and clear....perfect location for a love song.
Track 6 - Changing Light
This is the title track of the album, featuring the gorgeous vocals of Clare Kildea singing a reflective song about changing times, changing moods and changing light. I wrote this on a friend’s balcony in the Byron Bay hills as twilight crept along and the shadows began to dance. I love the juxtaposition of the album’s title track being based on visual, rather than the aural sense.
Track 7 - Slamming Doors
There is a great fire escape that I discovered in a big office building in town. Every time I use it, I stop, and listen to the sound of the door slam, reflect and reverberate right up the eight floors of smooth concrete surfaces. Tied with other construction sounds, it creates an interesting rhythm bed for this instrumental track.
Track 8 - Today I Have To Go Away
Second in the Fly in-Fly out trilogy is written from the husband’s perspective as he goes through the process of preparing to leave his family and fly out to Central QLD for work. The brutal cycle of extended periods away, followed by short weeks at home are beginning to take their toll on him, his wife and the kids.
“They all say it’s a great idea at the start
Some people get past the six month mark
Some people just don’t last...
Yeah we all take turns on this merry go round
I’m workin’ up north while my family’s down south
Who’s winning this game ain’t hard to work out”
Track 9 - Still Waiting
Every year in Australia, hundreds of people die at work through tragic accidents. The final track in the Fly in-Fly out trilogy is a haunting song written and sung from the wife’s perspective after a tragic fatal workplace accident occurs at the mine. While coming to terms with the loss of her husband, she feels in limbo and imagines that her husband is still away and will return from Central QLD as he always has.
“It seems to me that you’re still away
And I’m still here waiting
All inside I know you’re gone
But I’m still waiting”
Track 10 - Smile Like Me
That beautiful moment when you see your own smile, in the face of your son.....
Always with an ear open to the world, Brisbane singer songwriter Phill McKenna was awarded a ‘Creative Sparks’ grant through The Brisbane City Council & Arts QLD, and tasked with creating an album of original songs built piece by piece out of sounds found around urban Brisbane. From underneath bridges, to building construction sites, to airport lounges; Phill invites the listener to engage differently with the soundtrack of everyday life, and the inspiration that it provides when we listen with an ear for its hidden rhythms, arcs and hooks. Everything significant. Everything fleeting. Everything connected. These field-recordings created the beds and rhythm tracks for a swag of original songs; and the much anticipated second album from Phill McKenna & The Water Signs.
Three years in the making, the song writing team of Phill McKenna, Clare Kildea and producer Dave Carter combined their folk-based songs around the rhythm and soundscape beds, producing a stunning 10 track album and cementing Phill McKenna & Clare Kildea as premium songsmiths in a city overflowing with celebrated writers and artists.
Track by track, in Phill’s own words:
Phill McKenna & The Water Signs - Changing Light
Track 1 - Steel & Concrete
The opening track heaves (literally) with the sounds of steel and concrete. I recorded the ramming of steel and concrete pylons used as foundations in a number of large building sites, sometimes driving around for hours trying to track down the location of the construction sounds wafting around the suburbs. The song evolved into a narrative about the endless pursuit of exploitation and consumerism; the politics of denial, and the future impacts that will be dealt to the generation that is in waiting.
“A generation pleads
A generation not yet seen
While we’re busy making steel & concrete”
Track 2 - Hold Me
This song features the sounds of vehicles passing over one of Brisbane’s famous landmarks -The Story Bridge. At 4am one weekday morning I stood underneath the bridge and recorded the “THUMPS” that are created when vehicles hit the expansion joints on their way across the bridge, producing the beautiful syncopated rhythms well known by locals. I wrote the song after reading Tim Winton’s book ‘Breath’, creating two characters driving along Australia’s east coast; as eager for the next wave as they are to leave behind their past. The song pulses to the hypnotic rhythm of the bridge thumps; while the sound of bush crickets stridulate like a needle across a vinyl record.
"You drive half the night with the windows down,
Holdin' on, starin' out, trying to see
Looking back, broken tracks in the black of night
You know you're afraid, but you sing anyway"
Track 3 - Sleep Tight
The thing I loved about recording this track was tracking the horn section in my little home in Brisbane. Humidity and heat; everyone was squashed in, with mattresses and homemade soundproofing and microphones spread all over the place.
In a similar fashion to track 2, I recorded the traffic noises of cars crossing the Juliette St Bridge in Greenslopes to create the rhythm bed for the song. Hand claps helped to create the rhythm I had in my head all along for this song.
Sleep Tight is part I of the Fly in-Fly out trilogy that follows a family based in South East Queensland involved in the Fly in-Fly out workforce in the mining industry. The husband regularly leaves home on a 2 week on-1 week off roster working in the mines in the northern part of QLD. The couple struggle to come to terms with a part-time long distance relationship, the impact on their lives and the lives of their kids (see/hear also track 8 and track 9).
“Retreat to Windows
Watching leaves blown across empty streets,
We talk of ordinary lives, in extraordinary times.”
Track 4 - Finally Found What I Lost
This is a song I wrote from the perspective of a good mate of mine who is coming to terms with advanced lymphoma. This track celebrates the desire for life, Brisbane heat and the iconic flowering Jacaranda trees that line many of our roads, parks and gardens. I recorded the Brisbane sound of summer insects that sing at dusk and into the early evening throughout the warmer months simply by placing a microphone on my outside back deck at home!
“I finally found what i lost
With each coming day
Down underneath Jacaranda trees
I finally found what i lost”
Track 5 - Leaves from Autumn Trees
Winter in the high country in South East Queensland is cold and clear....perfect location for a love song.
Track 6 - Changing Light
This is the title track of the album, featuring the gorgeous vocals of Clare Kildea singing a reflective song about changing times, changing moods and changing light. I wrote this on a friend’s balcony in the Byron Bay hills as twilight crept along and the shadows began to dance. I love the juxtaposition of the album’s title track being based on visual, rather than the aural sense.
Track 7 - Slamming Doors
There is a great fire escape that I discovered in a big office building in town. Every time I use it, I stop, and listen to the sound of the door slam, reflect and reverberate right up the eight floors of smooth concrete surfaces. Tied with other construction sounds, it creates an interesting rhythm bed for this instrumental track.
Track 8 - Today I Have To Go Away
Second in the Fly in-Fly out trilogy is written from the husband’s perspective as he goes through the process of preparing to leave his family and fly out to Central QLD for work. The brutal cycle of extended periods away, followed by short weeks at home are beginning to take their toll on him, his wife and the kids.
“They all say it’s a great idea at the start
Some people get past the six month mark
Some people just don’t last...
Yeah we all take turns on this merry go round
I’m workin’ up north while my family’s down south
Who’s winning this game ain’t hard to work out”
Track 9 - Still Waiting
Every year in Australia, hundreds of people die at work through tragic accidents. The final track in the Fly in-Fly out trilogy is a haunting song written and sung from the wife’s perspective after a tragic fatal workplace accident occurs at the mine. While coming to terms with the loss of her husband, she feels in limbo and imagines that her husband is still away and will return from Central QLD as he always has.
“It seems to me that you’re still away
And I’m still here waiting
All inside I know you’re gone
But I’m still waiting”
Track 10 - Smile Like Me
That beautiful moment when you see your own smile, in the face of your son.....
Phill McKenna & The Water Signs on the album 'Six Degrees from a Monkey'
“An endearing showcase of true Australian folk music... This album is full of intriguing melodies, haunting strings and gorgeous harmonies, strung together with quirky lyrics to make a charming and unique sound”
Emma Heard, Time Off Magazine Sept 2009 (on ‘Six Degrees from a Monkey’).
Phill’s songs are full of Australian imagery and stories; from the urban window sill, to the stormy oceans that surround our island, to the wide open road that he has spent many years touring with the band he co-founded with 3 of his brothers Those Bloody McKennas.
During the 10 years of performing and touring with Those Bloody McKennas, Phill McKenna’s song writing was regarded widely with esteem. His song ‘Time & Tide’ the namesake of the 2004 release, won him acclaim with widespread play on radio across the country on Triple J, ABC Local and community radio. This song also found him on stage with then Senator Andrew Bartlett, ex-Go Betweens drummer, Lindy Morrison, plus another ex-Go Between Amanda Brown and former Hoodoo Gurus bass player, Clyde Bramley when he was invited to play ‘Time & Tide’ in Sydney at the ‘Rock Against Howard’ gigs of Oct 2004.
“‘Time & Tide’ an award winning political song, provided a strong and enduring message about the SIEV X, and the tragic loss of 353 asylum seekers… I believe that Phill has much to offer the community of Brisbane and the wider community with his songwriting and producing.”
Andrew Bartlett Convenor of the Queensland Greens and 4ZZZ broadcaster.
Phill released ‘Six Degrees from a Monkey’ his first solo recording in May 2009 and demonstrated that he is one of the country’s finest songwriters and producers. His distinctive sound offers an original freshness to the folk pop market, with songs from the album receiving regular airplay on Triple J, Local ABC and community radio across the country. The songs ‘All Over Now’ and ‘You Know’ were both selected as Q Song finalists and the track ‘Floating Girl’ was added to a soundtrack for the full length feature Australian film Centre Place.
There’s a satisfying cohesiveness that’s born of real experiences here. McKenna and everyone involved should feel bloody proud of it.”
Bill Holdsworth Rave magazine May 2009
Phill is currently preparing the release of his second album ‘Changing Light’ with a release planned for early 2013. Supported through the Creative Sparks Program (BCC) the album encompasses found sounds recorded locally and then used as beds and loops as a production base for a swag of new songs.
Emma Heard, Time Off Magazine Sept 2009 (on ‘Six Degrees from a Monkey’).
Phill’s songs are full of Australian imagery and stories; from the urban window sill, to the stormy oceans that surround our island, to the wide open road that he has spent many years touring with the band he co-founded with 3 of his brothers Those Bloody McKennas.
During the 10 years of performing and touring with Those Bloody McKennas, Phill McKenna’s song writing was regarded widely with esteem. His song ‘Time & Tide’ the namesake of the 2004 release, won him acclaim with widespread play on radio across the country on Triple J, ABC Local and community radio. This song also found him on stage with then Senator Andrew Bartlett, ex-Go Betweens drummer, Lindy Morrison, plus another ex-Go Between Amanda Brown and former Hoodoo Gurus bass player, Clyde Bramley when he was invited to play ‘Time & Tide’ in Sydney at the ‘Rock Against Howard’ gigs of Oct 2004.
“‘Time & Tide’ an award winning political song, provided a strong and enduring message about the SIEV X, and the tragic loss of 353 asylum seekers… I believe that Phill has much to offer the community of Brisbane and the wider community with his songwriting and producing.”
Andrew Bartlett Convenor of the Queensland Greens and 4ZZZ broadcaster.
Phill released ‘Six Degrees from a Monkey’ his first solo recording in May 2009 and demonstrated that he is one of the country’s finest songwriters and producers. His distinctive sound offers an original freshness to the folk pop market, with songs from the album receiving regular airplay on Triple J, Local ABC and community radio across the country. The songs ‘All Over Now’ and ‘You Know’ were both selected as Q Song finalists and the track ‘Floating Girl’ was added to a soundtrack for the full length feature Australian film Centre Place.
There’s a satisfying cohesiveness that’s born of real experiences here. McKenna and everyone involved should feel bloody proud of it.”
Bill Holdsworth Rave magazine May 2009
Phill is currently preparing the release of his second album ‘Changing Light’ with a release planned for early 2013. Supported through the Creative Sparks Program (BCC) the album encompasses found sounds recorded locally and then used as beds and loops as a production base for a swag of new songs.