Nicknamed with another interesting acronym courtesy of the initials of our western state, the Western Australian Music Industry Awards (the ‘WAMIs’) are an annual affair, celebrating the achievements of WA’s local, national and international music industry. They’ve lauded many acts prior to the artists’ acknowledgement in other states or nationally, including Karnivool, Little Birdy, The Sleepy Jackson, Gyroscope and End of Fashion. And now a thrice-WAMI-awarded young man and his band of Infidels are receiving critical acclaim and embarking on their first tour incorporating eastern shows, promising to bring their sweet, folk pop sound and brilliantly unaffected lyrics to both existing fans and those yet to be converted.
Speak The Truth In Love, the song which earned Nelson his most recent WAMI, does not include the entire band but does feature a beautiful old harpsichord. “It was awesome! You’ve got two keyboard decks,” Nelson explains, “and the top one, you can push it in or pull it out, and it changes the sound.” Recorded at Bang Bang Studios (now Yo-Yo), the building had recently been flooded by virulent hailstorms. “It was just an empty room with a harpsichord, and you had one light, just hanging over the harpsichord,” laughs Nelson. It’s not difficult to imagine this dreamy ambiance contributing to the sincerely lovely heartache of the song. The beginning is reminiscent of Closet Romantic, one of Damon Albarn’s first tracks unfettered by his band’s stylistic reputation. But as soon as Nelson begins singing, it’s obvious there’s nothing hidden about his communication.
The tracks composed for the 2011 album, I Know This Now, include many messages about truth, love, and songwriting. “I used to write a lot of love songs, which ended up being the main body of the album…I definitely went through a period of writing those kinds of tunes. You kind of write about what you feel comfortable writing about. I think that’s probably half the reason why I started writing songs in the first place: you either write about that stuff or don’t end up talking about it at all. And that doesn’t sound healthy,” Nelson says. “It finds its place in a musical venture.”
The comparisons to his Freedman namesake are apparently quite frequent, although Nelson is certain The Whitlams were not a conscious influence. He counts John Lennon, Bob Dylan and the Gallagher brothers among his greats, although his Western Australian background is definitely manifest in the natural accent of his singing. Concerning accents in films, “any accent that is from a Middle Eastern country or from some European country, they just revert to a British accent and think that that covers all foreigners,” he laughs. “They dress up like them, then they put on all the make-up and then they just put on a British accent. Have you seen The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo?…There’s nothing worse than an Aussie singing in an American accent,” he concludes.
It is apparent that a close partnership was formed between Nelson and the producer of I Know This Now, James Newhouse. “He was very enthusiastic about making it right,” says Nelson. “It was not a case of, ‘Okay, you’ve got ten days in the studio, make the most of it’… He was coming up with ideas all the time. It got to a point where I’d think in my head, ‘Oh, I’ll change that later,’ and then without even telling him he would start changing it.” This symbiosis is shared with Luke Dux, Nelson’s guitarist, who also received a 2010 WAMI for Best Guitarist. “He’s crazy about that sort of country slide guitar…which I am too. So it’s sort of the perfect fit. We think the same way. When we’re working on songs together it all comes together very naturally.” (N.B. Dux is the star of a YouTube video created by Will Stoker titled Gona Kill That Luke Dux, which is highly recommended.) This affection for slide guitar makes an especially divine appearance on track six of the album, Sleeping Alone. It reverberates like bells in the opening seconds and then glissés down to a sweet melody which Lucinda Williams herself would be proud of.
Nelson is particularly looking forward to the show at The Tote, as he hasn’t yet played there with his full band. With musical ties and support between Melbourne and Perth solidifying strongly last year, there should be a great turn-out for all three shows as Nelson’s pure and unabashed album weaves its way into eastern hearts.
BY ZOË RADAS
TIMOTHY NELSON & THE INFIDELS play three Melbourne gigs during their approaching eastern stint: Pure Pop Records and The Wesley Anne both on Saturday March 31, and The Tote on Sunday April 1.
