The Stone Hut
hello friends. welcome to the stone hut.
Thank you so much for pre-ordering our brand new album-baby. here you will find bits and pieces from the making of the our brand new record fallow.
We will be updating this regularly adding new footage, new photos and new stories and little gifts up as we get closer to the release of the record (march 13).
fallow:
So here we are album three baby. What a ride this has been. we are excited and scared to share this new collection of songs with you all.
I wrote the album in a season of change. A time of reevaluation. I think i learned to feel for the first time. We had a baby, we lost dans mum to cancer, we lost friends and my grandma when we were recording. It was a huge time of reflection and gained perspective.
Whilst there was so much hard shit going on around us, from drought to loss, I wanted this album to be green grass and running water. Light through the trees. A little moment of hope. You can listen to two of the tracks already. I hope you get something from them. What ever you may need.
ABOUT THE STONE HUT
This great little hut is on the property where we live on the western side of the Snowy Mountains in southern NSW. A huge thanks goes out to the Paton family while we are at it. It was moved here from the bush and rebuilt exactly (stone by stone in the exact same order) here on the property. Its incredible and has (as you can see a glorious outlook up the valley). We recorded in late May, so it was getting chilly however was cosy in the hut.
WHY THE STONE HUT AND NOT A PERFECTLY WELL DESIGNED STUDIO?
Good question. I wanted to record these songs in the place that I had written them, in the environment that had inspired them. Here in this beautiful valley with its incredible ever changing light. The mountains are full of hope, mystery, power and beauty and I wanted to capture some of that in the music. Secondly where can you find an old tank turned upside down and use it as an echo chamber in the middle of the city?
WHO ARE THESE LOONS?
Matt Fell - A loon that we love and that is a creative force. He is an multi award winning producer who produced both our other records.. however not quite like this. He makes good food as well and came with a bonus kick ass wife and play mate for our lil babe Walter. I also loved watching his creativity go wild in a space where things are limited.
Ben Hughes Corbett - Another loon we are very fond of. Ben has been part of my music creating world since i started releasing music. He is a multi instrumentalist who potentially if you asked him to learn the bag pipes by next week, would and could. He played guitars, banjo, keys and also worked with me on the writing side of things on nearly all of the songs. Ben quietly and without a fuss only ever plays what the song needs. He also does not have enough warm clothes to face the winter. Didn’t affect his playing though.
Dan Stanley Freeman - Literally jack and master of nearly all of the trades. Problem solving the shit out of any problem that cropped up. He catered like a mofo, we ate like kings. He played Double and electric bass like a champion (really tho). He dadded like there aint no other.
Thomas Lumsden - Sings like a literal man bird. Honestly I think will need to be a one man choir to get this album live. Also features on the title track Fallow. You jut wait. Phwoar.
Josh Schubert - Can. and. will. drum. the. shit. out. of. any. song. We travelled up to Josh’s studio for the drums in the Blue Mountains (where Matt, Amber Tom, the two babies Dan and I stayed in a haunted, tiny railway cottage - another story tho). Josh brings vibe. Big drum energy. and lots of laffs. Thanks for those too.
Guests - There was also a handful of guests who we will feature as the time goes on.
BTS VIDEO
We are going to be sharing more and more of the album making process over the next few months, so don’t be a stranger. Pop back over here!
PHOTOS
Happy snaps of the few weeks in the stone hut. Taken mostly on our phones and using filters. Except for the views which don’t need to be filtered…bc light. Again we will be updating these regularly.
The Songs
So I guess I start with the two that are already out in the world. If you have any questions or want to know about anything in particular, send me a message on any of the platforms and Ill try and include it in here as we go. I wrote all the songs to begin with and then took them to Ben Corbett and Dan and worked on arranging them and making them as good as they could be together after that.
Mountain Song
This too shall pass
Peed in the Pool: This is a confessional. The things that we hide are the things that make us the most us and are usually what people like about us. It was a kind of challenge to my self to just write those things down. It’s all true. Honestly who can say no to hot chips. Hard.
Grown ups
Fierce
Tidy Town
Fallow ft Thomas Lumsden: Title track from the record. A song about the relationship between those on the land and the land its self. The extraordinary amount of care that goes into and the pain watching it be destroyed. Also the wild risk thats involved in gambling in the ebb and flow of the weather. IT features my brother Thomas Lumsden who wrote the melody and sings the third verse. You can hear an acoustic version of it above. Its a little different on the record, but you get the vibe.
Wishing
These Days: It’s that time. You know it. You don’t know what day it is, you probably shouldn’t be drinking yet, and you definitely shouldn’t have said that thing to your sister. But we love it anyway. My favourite time of year. It’s hot, the street in town is weirdly quiet as half the town has gone to Bermagui or Yamba for Chrissy. The other half are home under the aircon watching the cricket or at the pool/river. It’s a time of sadness as theres always expectations that it’s going to be the best time ever but really it’s just the accumulated memories of years gone by and therefore can never be met. Happy holidays weirdos.
Dig
Black and White
Mountain Song Reprise
