Monday, 18 January 2010 19:51
"Lately you've been down on love. You believe that it's a poison cup..."
SARAH BLASKO deals well in opening salvos. The winsome New South Wales songstress has turned loving and losing into award-winning triumph several times over, more recently with her third album 'As Day Follows Night'. The album spins and reels from the double-blow of her recent break-up with boyfriend and long-time co-writer Robert Cranny. Inspired by the catharsis of her music and the gothic world of Shakespeare, 'As Day Follows Night' is a beautifully threadbare, stark portrait of love as a force of nature - whose ebbs and flows Blasko has resigned herself to.
On the back of composing the score for Bell Shakespeare’s production of 'Hamlet' in Australia, Blasko created the new album, her third and most resolved yet - the musical equivalent of a new dawn... and if all of this sounds too heavy for you - don't fear; it's not all heartbreak and Shakespearean tragedy in the songwriter's tunes. The songs are just another act in the story of Miss Sarah Blasko.
COUP DE MAIN: As Day Follows Night - is that a term from the Bible?
SARAH BLASKO: Well... I think there is a mention of something similar in the Bible, but I got it from 'Hamlet' - it’s often said round the other way; as night follows day.
CDM: So you turned it around?
SARAH: I guess it was this over-riding feeling I wanted people to get from the album - a kind of positivity. On the one hand it’s quite a sad record, but I wanted the songs in essence to be about pulling yourself out of a difficult time. So I thought that the idea of day after a really long, difficult night, would be pretty appropriate... I think the album’s about contrasts too - contrasts of emotion - so I thought the comparison was appropriate.
CDM: You mentioned wanting to strip back the instrumentation of this album, keep everything organic - what did that do to your creativity?
SARAH: It was really good for me. It was the change I really needed at that point. I think it puts more emphasis on the voice and the songs, which I think is a great thing - you’re not really hiding behind all these layers of stuff. There’s so much more you can do with the dynamics of songs when they’re simple... I think it was what I needed in my life - there was a lot going on, a lot of layers.
CDM: Was the work you were doing in theatre a big influence on all that?
SARAH: I think so. The music I was writing for 'Hamlet' needed to be very simple because there was so much going on with the dialogue in that play, so I felt like the music had to complement that - so that carried on through; I was working on the soundtrack and the album simultaneously.
CDM: You've called the making of the album "an incubation of nine months", which portrays the process as quite hard and romantic - what were your favourite things about the process of making the album?
SARAH: I set up this little office space with a piano in it and I thought that would be quite a novel way of writing the album, to make it like a job - a romanticised version of the 9 to 5. I think that was probably my favourite time. I made sure I walked there every day, which took me about an hour. I think those walks to the studio were the most enjoyable times for me, because I could get lost in my head and think about what I wanted the album to sound like as I was writing. For the most part, it was great to have all that time alone writing the songs.
CDM: How hard was it to go ahead and put your baby in front of Bjorn [ producer Bjorn Yttling, of Peter, Bjorn and John ] and hand it over to him?
SARAH: It was really hard to do that at first. You have been holding onto this thing - even though you know what someone has done before and you have faith in what they can achieve - it’s just a matter of whether that’s gonna be right for you. At first you do need to be quite protective; to make sure it’s going down the right track, so I was pretty nervous to begin with. I think if I had known then what I know now, I would have been a lot more relaxed. I’m really happy with the result and I think Bjorn helped me take it in directions I couldn’t have taken it in myself. It is a scary thing to be putting it in other people’s hands, but it’s really necessary sometimes.
CDM: The press has plotted you across the course of your three albums; saying you’ve gone from ‘tentative’ with the first album to ‘fierce’ with the second album, to ‘solitary and contemplative’ with the new one - would you say that’s accurate?
SARAH: In a way, I think this album is stronger than the last one - in terms of not hiding behind anything. So in a way, I see this album as fiercer than the last. I just find it interesting hearing what people think. If that’s people’s interpretation, then that’s valid and interesting. It’s hard to try and neatly place a record like that.
CDM: 'As Day Follows Night' is definitely a heartbreak album... Now that you’ve spilled your heart out, where to from here?
SARAH: Oh, it’s a deep well. I’m sure there’s more. I don’t know where the next record will go. I’ll leave it for a while and see where it goes. I’m really interested in the idea of working with Bjorn [ again ]. I like the mystery of not quite knowing where it will go next!
Click HERE for SARAH BLASKO's vintage dresses fashion lookbook.
Sarah Blasko's 'As Day Follows Night' is in-stores now.
Catch Sarah Blasko at Laneway Festival, February 1st - tickets on sale now!
Sarah Blasko's 'As Day Follows Night' is in-stores now.
Catch Sarah Blasko at Laneway Festival, February 1st - tickets on sale now!