“Wiped Out was a collection of songs that were written over an extended period and the recording sessions were spaced out [whereas] Breathe is the first time we got to record an EP where we banged out everything at once,” explains vocalist Hayden Somerville.
In December last year, with the intention of writing an EP, Lurch & Chief’s six members – Josh Lane (bass), Alex Trevisan (guitar), Joel Rennison (drums), Brendan Anderson (guitar), Lilibeth Hall (vocals) and Somerville – bunkered down in a house in Halls Gap, a remote town that sits on the edge of The Grampians National Park, to write the album.
“Leading up to this EP we all said, ‘Alright, let’s take this seriously now’,” says Somerville. Hall, who up until this point has been sitting quietly beside Somerville for the interview, enters into the conversation. “We had released Keep It Together and we knew we had an EP to write, so we decided to have a particular process in writing it,” she says.
According to Hall and Somerville, prior to initiating the writing for Breathe, the band’s song construction was somewhat freeform. “Before Breathe [our songwriting] was very much jamming,” says Sommerville, with Hall adding, “Or we would build upon whatever ideas we bought individually to our little studio we had in Moorabbin.”
One of the most noticeable differences on Breathe from the band’s previous work is Hall’s shift from main vocalist on the opening three tracks of the EP, Echo, Breathe Out and the single Fading Out. However, like everything about Lurch & Chief, this was a very organic process. “I don’t even think it was planned,” ponders Hall. “It just evolved when we were writing all the songs.” Somerville agrees. “When we did the earlier tracks [from the previous EP] I think a lot of those tracks we wrote over time, and we had to write pieces when we were away from the bandroom, and then we would meet up and piece them together. But when we went away to Hall’s Gap we were all in the one room putting in an equal amount of effort.”
For Somerville and Hall, the single Fading Out highlights how their new approach to songwriting at Hall’s Gap manifested. “Fading Out was the first song we started jamming out up there, and Lil just started singing the melody,” says Somerville. “Once we’d figured out the melodies, the lyrics would then evolve naturally from either Hayden or I,” adds Hall. “For Echo, Hayden wrote the melody and I wrote the lyrics, but then there are other tracks that I wrote pretty much the entirety of, in terms of melody and lyrics.”
The song Breathe Out, where the EP gets its title from, is a key example of a song where Hall drove the lyrics and melody. She admits the lyrics and theme of the song came from a deeply personal place. “That song is very close to my heart,” she says. “It was written about a friend who passed away during the writing process that was very all encompassing to my life. It was just a tragic accident. I couldn’t disguise the raw emotion and impact of this event in my writing – it was beautiful because Hayden was very in-tune with my lyrics and the vibe of the song.”
BY DAN WATT
