Surely everyone is a little in love with Katie Noonan. The outlandishly versatile singer (seriously, we’re talking Faustian levels of talent here) has been charming heart and ear since her turn-of-the-century debut band, George.
She has won critical and popular accolades with forays into jazz, opera, dance, even a Beatles cover record. Legend has it she can also fly and is fluent in fish. Her latest venture, Katie Noonan’s Vanguard, released an LP called Transmutant in July, and are currently out on the road, staking their claim on the landscape.
“My favourite artists are people who keep on searching, who don’t settle on one role, who acknowledge weaknesses in their craft and try to better them – be that intonation or breathing, your sense of timing, whatever it is,” Noonan explains. She is currently taking time out in a café in Glebe, and the sound of rowdy children nearby rises and falls in waves. “There will always be someone who is better than you at something, so you need to just keep on. I also enjoy the challenge of doing new stuff, and even when it’s fucking frightening, it’s still exciting.”
We are discussing one of the outstanding tracks on Transmutant, ‘Silence Speaks To The Lucky One’. It is still unmistakably Noonan, but has vocal layering and a lightness of touch somewhat reminiscent of Imogen Heap; delicate and haunting.
“I’ve always loved vocoder, even though I know it’s kind of daggy,” says Noonan. “And of course James… Blake? I always have to make sure it’s James Blake I’m thinking of, not James Blunt. Veerry different. James Blake has some wonderful vocoder moments on his record. I’ve always loved vocoder, and on that piece, I really wanted it to feel a little like the voices in your head talking along with you. I did that completely live, having the vocoder there next to me, all done in one take. There are little things that could probably be fixed on it if you want to get really anal, but I thought it was more important to get the emotion of the track.”
As it turns out, that proximity to the core of a song – capturing the moment of raw creation and sincerity as close as possible – is something of a hallmark in Noonan’s approach to her music. Across various incarnations, she has been tremendously at ease in allowing a tune to unfold organically. In this instance, it has also had a much more practical advantage. ‘An Unwinnable Race’ was very nearly lost to history until Noonan uncovered the forgotten song via a fan’s YouTube upload.
“I like saying, ‘Look, I’ve never tried this one before, and who knows what will happen?’ And that’s what I did that night. I had Cameron Dale there, my guitarist, so we just kind of jammed and it was great! And then I promptly forgot about it. We were touring [another side project] The Captains’ record and were doing all of this other stuff, and when I started on Transmutant I found myself thinking back to this song. I remembered really liking the vibe, but I didn’t remember how to play it, I didn’t remember any of the words. It had been quite a time between drinks, you know? I just had a gist, but luckily someone had filmed it and uploaded it to YouTube, so I was able to teach myself.”
Transmutant is indeed quite a lush, sumptuous record, and hearing it conjured live will no doubt bring a whole new vibrancy to the songs. While perusing details for the album tour, and casting an eye back over the many other national performances that Noonan and co. have undertaken, you quickly begin to realise just how much of a hand she has had in encouraging and promoting young artists. If not the doyen of Australian music, Noonan is certainly on the road to becoming one, and her support for emerging artists is an invaluable thing.
“I think it’s really, really important – for women especially – to support and nurture and encourage young singer-songwriters. I guess now that I am a bit older and I’m a mum, I don’t know, maybe I’m a bit more maternal,” she laughs. “There’s a singer we’re taking on this current tour, MKO, and I think people are just going to fall in love with her. I’m really excited for people to get the chance to see her, and I had Sahara Beck on my last tour, she’s incredible. I just think it’s important. [Music] is still kind of a boys’ club, particularly in the upper echelons of the business side, so I like to be encouraging of a different side to that.”
With a potential collaboration with Michael Leunig on the cards, Noonan barely has time to catch breath before the next project starts whispering in her ear. Nor does it seem like inspiration will be drying up anytime soon.
“I try to leave myself open to writing about anything, anyone, at any time. I think it’s been a particularly full-on few years for everyone, really. Me, my husband, my family, the world. My close ones tend to be my strongest muse. There’s a song on the album I wrote for my best friend called ‘Broken’; I wrote ‘Cloud Of Home’ for my children; I wrote ‘Gratitude’ for my husband. I think as I’m getting older I’m feeling less afraid to say how I feel. I’m less afraid about being honest.”
[Katie Noonan photo by Cybelle Malinowski]
Transmutant is out now through Kin/Universal. Joined byMKO for her gigs at John Painter Hall, Australian Institute of Music on Friday October 30 and Saturday October 31, Katie also playsThe Brass Monkey on Thursday November 5.
