ALBUM PREMIERE: Leanne Tennant - Red Wine, Late Nights

Acclaimed North Queensland-bred singer-songwriter Leanne Tennant is ramping up for the release of her eagerly awaited second full-length, Red Wine, Late Nights, this week with the announcement of an extensive run of shows in support of the record, a pre-release stream of which is proudly premiering on The Music today.

Riding high on the buzz afforded her by her recent victory at this year's Queensland Music Awards, as well as picking up a finalist nod for the 2016 Billy Thorpe Scholarship, Tennant will hit metropolitan and regional centres alike on her east-coast tour, kicking off at The Rec Room, in Townsville, this Friday, 5 August. She'll also take in performances in Mission Beach, Yeppoon, Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast, Byron Bay, Brisbane and Cairns, where she rounds out her headline stretch of shows at the Tanks Arts Centre on Friday 16 September.

She doesn't quite finish entirely there, however, as she then returns to Brisbane the following month, on Sunday 2 October, to perform at The Triffid's second annual Newstead Roots Festival alongside the likes of Bullhorn, Dubmarine, Cheap Fakes, Bobby Alu, Bearfoot and more.

The album provides a solid backgrounder for experiencing Tennant's live shows, given that the majority of tracks were recorded live, in one take. Tennant says that 'live-on-record' aesthetic — often less 'perfect', but always infinitely more dynamic, than what you'd get on a rigidly produced, over-polished affair — is something she's been chasing for a while now, and she's finally found the happiness with her own musicianship to be able to step back and appreciate the bigger picture.

"I’ve always wanted to record in an analog studio as it gives you the opportunity to play your songs live, rather than in many broken pieces which are then stitched together," she said in a statement. "I had to learn to not focus as much on my flaws but focus on the entire piece as it was meant to be."

That sense of organic growth and change permeates Red Wine, Late Nights, which stands apart from its predecessor in almost every regard, right down to the way Tennant approached its recording.

"My last album I had a fairly clear picture of what I wanted before I started recording," she continued. "This time, I let the songs develop and change into what they needed to be as I was performing them. It was all about feel." 

Red Wine, Late Nights was recorded and produced by Brisbane's Jamie Trevaskis (Robert Forster, The Good Ship), who also served as a guest musician on the record alongside Ben Ely (Regurgitator) and Ben Carstens (Mexico City). 

Red Wine, Late Nights will be released on Friday, 5 August. For more information about Leanne Tennant's upcoming projects and movements, see her Facebook page.

Full tour dates below; for more information, see theGuide.

August 5 | The Rec Room | Townsville QLD
August 6 | Healthy Harvest | Mission Beach QLD
August 12 | Yeppoon Village Festival | Yeppoon QLD
August 18 | The Wesley Anne | Melbourne VIC
August 26 | Sofar Sounds | Sydney NSW
August 28 | Curruumbin RSL | Gold Coast QLD
September 1 | Treehouse On Bilongil | Byron Bay NSW
September 3 | The Junk Bar | Brisbane QLD
September 7-9 | Venue TBC | Brisbane QLD
September 16 | Tanks Arts Centre | Cairns QLD
October 2 | Newstead Roots Festival @ The Triffid | Brisbane QLD
October 22 | Red Deer Festival | Brisbane QLD