Arts / Music
Indie musician explores new classical territory
Album launch at Tempo Rubato next Monday
Emma Giles
EX-indie musician Nick Batterham breaks into classical composition with the release of his new album First Snow (Music for Piano and Strings).
The former guitarist of 1990s Indie pop-rock band The Earthmen changed tunes with his recent release that captures the sound of piano and string based music.
Batterham will launch the album at Tempo Robato in Brunswick next Monday, November 10.
Despite the genre change Pascoe Vale South-based Batterham still takes reference from his early days in guitar-heavy bands.
“What’s in this record comes a little bit from a songwriting background,” said Batterham.
First Snow intentionally breaks the modern “neoclassical” trend within instrumental production; instead Batterham takes on the structures similar to those he has written previously.
“I’m very focused on melody as the vehicle of emotion,” he said.
Batterham took his skills from his body of work in the indie rock genre and as a soundtrack composer to produce a melancholic project that relies on melody to drive storytelling.
The Earthmen, which was Batterham’s second band, were a successful local group who performed alongside artists which include INXS and Alanis Morrisette.
Their debut album Love Walked In earned the band an ARIA nomination for Best Breakthrough Artist in 1997, but after time at Victoria’s College of the Arts Batterham moved towards the instrumental and eventually classical scene.
His work with visual artist Rone was his first endeavour into classical production, yet this was a reactionary work acting as an aid to pre-existing work created by Rone.
“I think that sensitivity to respond to what’s in front of you is probably part of any artist practice,” Batterham said in reference to the reflexive nature of writing for another person’s work.
Between projects with Rone and film score work Batterham began to write pieces that would become part of his new work First Snow.
As he created this album a theme was found through the feeling of melancholy, many ideas came together over the course of the production yet that feeling resonated through each song.
“I had written some tangential sort of pieces that were starting to feel like they could be a thing together that they were all unified”
First Snow was not seen as a linear project by Batterham, instead there was repeated change as the work evolved.
“It’s like you’ve got a dozen jigsaw puzzles on the go at one time,” he said.
The album, recorded at Lester Lane, his studio in Pascoe Vale South, was released on October 17 on all platforms and encompassed eight tracks.
The work will be performed at Tempo Rubato in Brunswick on November 10, alongside tracks created for Rone’s visual art.
Batterham has found Brunswick to be an area in which he finds his music is welcomed and is set to play from 8pm.
“The best venue in the city, I just love Rubato as a place,” said Batterham.
“It’s really a dream come true to put on a concert at Tempo Rubato.”
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