LEAH SENIOR
Hi and thanks for taking the time out to speak with us at Musicology. Firstly congratulations on the new record The Passing Scene. Every album tells a tale and what is this new LP saying to the world?
Well I suppose everyone takes something different from whatever you make but for me the album is saying accept impermanence, tune into the birds and go lightly.
An album can be a lifetime worth of experiences concentrated and refined into a body of work that encompases many years and phases in life. Other times it is a snap shot, a brief period in time crystallized into a record covering a specific epoch. Was it a case of either / or for The Passing Scene?
It’s about a three year snapshot. Living in a big wonky house in Raglan St, Preston. Tinkling away at the piano or sitting by the Vulcan gas heater in winter hearing the music of my housemates Zak Olson (Traffik Island) and Jesse Williams (Girlatones) through the walls.
The cover art for the record depicts you leaning over a gated stairway with passers by. Can you elaborate a little on its inception and its particular significance?
My friend Jamie Wdziekonski shot the cover and came up with the idea. It is a lenticular image, meaning that the picture changes when you look at it. I am standing still, the scene of people passing by is constantly changing. The moving image encapsulates the idea that nothing ever stays the same.
In terms of the writing and lyrical content, was there an overarching narrative tying the album together or an assortment of topics and inspirations that zig zag throughout the record?
It’s amazing how you only see the themes in retrospect. Ideas of impermanence, self acceptance (and birds) weave their way through nearly every song. In some songs these ideas are joyfully expressed and sometimes with sorrow. Jesus Turned Into A Bird and There’s No Fish lament the changes we are seeing in the natural world, whereas Bug In A Bath, Dreary Day and With Or Without Me express a freedom in letting go.
What were some of the challenges in putting this LP together and conversely what were some of the greatest surprises you experienced through the writing / recording process for The Passing Scene?
This album took me a long time to make. I thought I had nearly finished the album when I started writing on piano. Very quickly I had a collection of songs that took it into a totally different direction. Discovering joy and play in my writing was a nice surprise.
Piano features heavily throughout the record and with such richly layered tracks there is a masterful finesse in you compositional structures. By prising these layers apart can you elaborate on the technical nature of your production and piecemeal construction through the instrumentation on the album?
The songs always started with piano and vocals. They then simply came together through playing them as a band. I am fortunate to have excellent musicians by my side. Luke Brennan, Tam Matlakowski, Jesse Williams and Andi Senior are all sensitive people who bring their own thing to the songs. I wouldn’t say the album is overly “produced”. It’s a bunch of friends playing together in the lounge room.
The single Evergreen is an amazing track and the accompanying medieval videoclip is a delightful flight of fancy. Was there a strong storyboard for this clip right from the get go or one that slowly came together as certain imagery caught your attention and how it married with the sentiment you were trying to convey?
My friend Jessica Barclay Lawton and I have worked together on three clips now. Our latest approach has been to get an overall aesthetic feel together then improvise on the day. The song Evergreen has a certain whimsy that just seemed to pair well with castles and costumes. It was a wonderful day of knights, archery and dancing.
Having performed with so many amazing artists over the years, has there been any words of wisdom spoken to you that really resonated with you and in-turn altered the way you approach your craft?
To be honest there doesn’t tend to be that much green room chatter with bigger artists. I am pretty shy. I tend to learn more from the musicians I am surrounded by everyday like Jesse and Zak. They teach me to keep experimenting in new ways, to keep messing around, keep playing.
As global touring will resume soon, can you share with us one of your most remarkable concerts and what made it so memorable?
One of my favourite nights was when we held a concert with Howard Eynon, myself and Traffik Island right here in our lounge room. Late one night I showed my friend Jamie (the same Jamie who shot the album pics) the album “So What If I’m Standing In Apricot Jam”, a beautiful folk record from the 70s made by a man called Howard Eynon. Zak had introduced me to his music. Jamie decided to track Howard down and we invited him to play a house show. It was a full moon and the lounge room and kitchen were crammed with friends. Howard Eynon’s youthful energy and joy reminded us all about what is important. It was a truly magical night.
Lastly, on a philosophical level, what does music give you that nothing else does?
Doesn’t Allan Watts say somewhere that music and poetry speaks to the wonderful nonsense of the world? I don’t know, music seems to give me everything, my friends, my purpose, my lens through which I view the world.
