Free Spirit

With the release his debut, self-titled EP, and its single, Howl, local singer/songwriter Hamish Anderson looks set to secure himself a rare position of prominence in what is a decidedly crowded and quality laden field. Guest contributions on the record by members of Foo Fighters, The Wallflowers and Angus & Julia Stone, do nothing to dispel the idea that Anderson is categorically going places, and the world class production values don't hurt, either. Above all else, a sense of quality – both musical and lyrical – comes though with this EP, but Anderson says it wasn't something he necessarily set out with in mind.

“It kind of happened very organically and just snowballed, which was really cool. It was crazy. We recorded the single and Eric [producer Eric J. Dubowski] knew Rami [Jaffee, Foo Fighters keyboardist and founding member of The Wallflowers] and just said he thought he would really like it and thought he could add something really special to it. So, Eric sent it to him and almost straight away we got back a version with incredible organ on it and he texted me saying he really loved the song. A little while later there was a second song, Smoke And Mirrors, which we also thought Rami would be great for, and it just so happened that he was in Australia with The Foo's. We tried to get in contact with him but we didn't hear back. We just thought, 'he's a rock star, he's really busy'. Then on the last day of the recording he called and said he'd be there in five minutes. He listened to the song for about two minutes and then he just laid down this ridiculously good organ track. After, he was, like, 'just buy me a beer'. It was amazing.”

When it comes to choosing an introductory track from a record, two schools of thought seem to dominate: radio friendliness and the notion that certain songs are good introductions. Anderson is emphatically of the second school when it comes to Howl.

“I don't listen to radio very much, so I didn't really think about it in those terms. It's also five minutes and seventeen seconds long. I also didn't want to release something that would kind of box me as an acoustic/folk type person. I love that side of it, but it just seemed like a natural choice to make this the first single.”

When it comes to translating his gorgeous sound to the stage, Anderson admits that it wasn't always an easy task, although he does feel he's nailed it now.

“I kind of did everything backwards. When I went to Sydney, it was just kind of me, but I explained to Eric that I wanted some of these songs to have an arrangement for a sort of band sound. Since then, I've gathered my own band and, yeah, again, it really has come together quite naturally. Some songs require a bit more work than others, but some, like Howl, just worked in a live setting straight away.”

And launching your debut EP is something that only happens once in a lifetime. Accordingly, Anderson wants his upcoming show at the Toff In Town to be one to truly savour.

“I love the Toff. We played there not long ago. It's probably my favourite venue in Melbourne: great sound, great people to deal with and there just always seems to be a great vibe around the place. We've got some friends who'll be joining us for some songs. We've just done a music video for Howl, so we might include that a little bit, yeah, just try to make it a little bit of a special night. We've also kind of broken it down into a few different sets: one a bit rockier, one more acoustic, things like that. Just trying to make it not so much like a normal show.”

Hamish Anderson will be playing the following dates:

Wednesday 1 May - The Toff In Town, Melbourne VIC
Thursday 2 May - The Standard, Sydney NSW