Written for http://www.Ripitup.co.nz
Melody Pool21 year old Aussie singer/songwriter Melody Pool describes herself as “currently in limbo”, hanging out in her o
Pool is a self-starter, using crowd sourcing to fund her way to Nashville to record alongside US singer Jace Everett (his song ‘Bad Things’ is the theme tune to the hit TV show True Blood). It was almost a chance meeting that conjoined Pool and Everett. She was asked to help play along-side a friend who was opening for one of Everett’s shows Down Under. “I think I was introduced to him in a backstage dressing room. I was helping Kirsty our on guitar, I was real gimpy and shy.” But something struck a chord and the two became fast friends. The resulting album, recorded at the home of Country Music, was The Hurting Scene. It’s an album with all the classic trace ingredients: lost love, infidelity, and the assertion of independence. A beguiling, bittersweet series of vignettes and tales, claims Pool. “I’m in love, and you’re to blame…” goes the opening lines. But does she identify with Country? “Don’t compare me to Kasey Chambers; I’m more ‘folk’ I think”. Growing up, Pool tells me, she was deeply influenced by artists like Joni Mitchell. “I, myself have been compared to Joni sometimes, which is flattering. But while I love her I don’t want to be limited by her.” Pool loves Mitchell’s Kind of Blue period but acknowledges that even the singer herself transcended jazz, pop and folk seamlessly in an effort to stay fresh. Part of that was working with producer Brad Jones. “He worked with Missy Higgins and Justin Townes Earle. He has this, um, gentle touch to the sound which I love.” And indeed it works, giving Pool’s vocals far more maturity than her two decade existence.
I put it to her that sometimes she sounds a bit like a ‘female Ryan Adams’ especially on her ballad “Somebody You’ve Never Met Before’ and the new single ‘Xavier’. The phone line goes quiet… but I swear there’s a small girlish giggle before the reply. “Actually I was going for Patty Griffin, but ok.” Then the conversation turns to what it would be like to have a man cover her songs. A reverse perhaps of Tori Amos’ Strange Little Girls concept, where the singer covers a collection of tracks by ‘blokes’ like Joe Jackson and Eminem in a Nuevo-feminist way. “I don’t know about that, but I like it. Actually, Marlon and I have covered each other’s songs.” Williams covered Pool’s ‘Pretty Little End’; Pool played William’s ‘Heaven For You’. “We did (promo) clips for Youtube. It was amazing hearing his voice in my songs. I guess I imagined them sung by women. I didn’t have any comprehension of how that might work differently, in reverse. I don’t tend to change genders, but Marlon does.” Now I was wondering if he’d be wearing a dress on stage when the two team up for their local tour. “No,” Pool laughs, “I meant that he makes the song more ‘manly’. A good suggestion, though. Would florals go with that hat?”
Marlon Williams Single Release Tour with support from Melody pool and Aldous Harding
with support from Melody pool and Aldous Harding
Fri 21 July San Francisco Bath House – Wellington
21 July The Tuning Fork – Auckland
with support from Aldous Harding
13 July – Taste Merchants – Dunedin
16 July – Wunderbar – Lyttleton
freshthinking 