Hello Lovely,
Once again we find ourselves in the position of having interesting things to say; thus a valuable reason to trouble your inbox and siphon off a few minutes of your lifespan. But it is these precise moments that make life worth living. ART! MUSIC! TRUTH! Yes, those things! And we have them here in boundless quantity.
OUT NOW: LOVELY HEAD Always [PR007]
Sydney artist Lovely Head arrives on Provenance with the six-track experimental pop EP Always. The solo project of writer, singer, and producer Vivian Huynh (formerly of the awesome and more awesome Sydney three-piece No Art), Lovely Head explores, in her very own words, “themes of tension, distance and lust”. These sound like themes worthy of exploration, and we believe that Lovely Head is the very person to pick up the baton.
For Always, Lovely Head has continued with a minimal approach to her music, consciously looking for ways to remove elements from a song as it’s being written, to let it breathe properly, without fuss. Early riffs for the EP started life on a creaky (but no doubt handsome) ’80s Yamaha keyboard, one that Vivian’s uncle left behind when he moved out of the family home. The music was also mainly written and recorded in dining rooms, because – as Vivian notes – “it’s warmer there and the light is nicer”.
Eucalypt said that ‘Show Up’ from the EP is “possibly my favourite thing released by Lovely Head”. Music Feeds said “If you like HTRK, Lovely Head is for you”. We are fans of HTRK, and Lovely Head is abolsutely for us, so we feel we have proven that theory.
Always is out now via Provenance, on digital and (intake of breath) super-limited lathe cut 10” vinyl, shipped with full-colour sleeve print. The latter is a lovely way to love Lovely Head, we fully recommend you take the advantage.
BE LOVELY, BUY THIS THING! VINYL | BANDCAMP | ITUNES | GOOGLE
WATCH: ‘SHOW UP’ FROM ALWAYS
Lovely Head says: “The video for ‘Show Up’ is my love letter to Cabramatta. I’ve been going there since I was a bleary-eyed infant. We’d go on weekends, and have lunch first. Mum or dad would order the pho. You get given a little bowl and a pair of scissors that your parents use to slop a bit of their noodle into and cut up for you to eat. Then I’d trail my parents as they did the grocery shopping for the week, pick up the ‘Chieu Duong’ paper, and flick through pirated Hong Kong movies to take home. Shooting this brought back the most bittersweet memories.”
ALSO OUT NOW: LORTICA Phellemens [PR005]
As Lortica, Sydney producer Alister Hill has been quietly creating beautiful soundscapes from the tired remains of old cassette tapes and found sounds.
His new album on Provenance, Phellemens, was born from applying the analogue granular approach heard on his debut Mialle Tapes to more a traditional approach to composition Using an omnichord, piano, synthesizer, samples and fabricated trombones, and combining extremities in digital and analogue pitching and stretching, Hill described the process of making the record as “the most satisfying live performances I’ve experienced, playing to an audience of no one”. Nice.
Other clever people have likened Lortica’s work to The Caretaker, Tim Hecker, William Basinski and Grouper, but is resolutely its own beast – gorgeous and grotesque in equal measure.
DEVOUR! CONSUME! BANDCAMP | ITUNES | GOOGLE
WATCH: FLII by LORTICA
ALIVE! MEDICINE VOICE Live in Sydney
A chance to catch Medicine Voice & live band in the super-intimate environs of Sydney’s Golden Age Cinema & Bar on Thursday 3 November 2016. More info on The Facebook.
OUT BEFORE: A LIST OF OTHER MUSIC ON PROVENANCE
PR001 MEDICINE VOICE I And Thou
PR002 PANEYE Desertism
PR003 V/A Marks Of Provenance I
PR004 SPARTAK I Fought The Style
VERY SOON: APHIR; LATER: KRIS KEOGH
We have plunged and are now on Spotify and Twitter.
Love always, Provenance.