Kirin J Callinan

Varyingly humorous, violent, industrial and romantic, there aren’t many suitable analogues for his songwriting style. Likewise, as a live performer he shows no inclination to deviate from delivering a uniquely absurd and somewhat risqué experience.

Any artist of this ilk is liable to scare away audiences who are used to things they can straightaway understand. On the other hand, Callinan’s 2013 debut Embracism contained a few songs (such as ‘Victoria M.’ and ‘Landslide’) that were reasonably immediate. It’s a quality shared by his brand new single ‘The Teacher’ – the first taste of his forthcoming second album. The song is a slinky jazz ballad that unfurls a mournful, if slightly perverse, narrative. Although hardly a recipe for pop superstardom, it seems certain to expand Callinan’s burgeoning global following.

“I’m not trying to ever alienate people,” he says. “I understand, though, that I do do that. In an ideal world, I’d love for everybody to love me and to be the biggest artist in the universe. But I guess I don’t want to compromise. I want to like my music as well, and for me to like it, I feel like it does need to be singular. Also, I can’t help it. It’s not like I’m trying to be difficult or challenging or weird, or even trying to be original. I’ve tried to do the opposite – I’ve tried to make really straight dance music, just for my own entertainment. But whatever I do, it always just comes off a little bit weird. I’m not entirely sure why.”

It’s now over two years since Embracism’s release.Plenty of people were familiar with Callinan prior to the album – if not through his notorious solo shows, then courtesy of his central role in Jack Ladder and The Dreamlanders and earlier work in Mercy Arms. However, it’s only since his debut LP that listeners have developed a clearer understanding of Callinan’s artistic personality. He’s well positioned to make a bigger impact with his second album, but he doesn’t feel pressure to appeal to a broader demographic.

“As far as record labels go, they want to sell records,” he says. “If they don’t start selling records, then they’ll stop giving me money. For me, it doesn’t really matter. I just want to keep making music that excites me and confuses me – and excites and confuses other people as well.

“This record feels, in many ways, to be the exact same record as Embracism. I don’t think anyone else thinks that, but for me it feels like the same record, just a more extreme version. And that’s all I’m trying to do – be the most heightened, exciting and confusing version of myself.”

Deeming the forthcoming record – which is due in the early months of 2016 – the same as Embracism shouldn’t suggest Callinan felt so satisfied with the first album that he’s simply copied and pasted its core ideas into a follow-up.

“I guess I had a clearer idea of what I wanted to make, so I’ve done it with a bit more focus,” he says. “Embracism was really making it up as it went along with Kim [Moyes, producer]. That said, this one’s the same thing in that regard. I mean, it’s the same record; it comes from the same place. But it also stylistically has nothing to do with Embracism. Music’s about the process for me, it’s not about the style or genre or anything like that. It’s about personality and it’s expressive. One comment about Embracism was that it jumped around stylistically, and I felt it was a strength that it could do that and still retain a flow and a world. So I’m trying to do that again.”

Following Embracism’s release, Callinan developed a constructive synergy with live keyboardist Tex Crick and drummer Dave Jenkins, Jr. As richly enveloping as the album is, the songs became more fully realised at his live shows. Crick and Jenkins, Jr. both contribute to the new album, but Callinan didn’t try to tailor the record to the live show.

“I suspect these songs will make themselves clearer and I’ll be able to communicate them better once I start playing them live, because these songs are as much a mystery to me, and I’ve very much been writing them in the studio. I think that’s just the way it goes. The songs are going to reveal themselves live in the presence of other people and you can hear them through their ears. Definitely the songs [from Embracism] matured live after recording them, but I think that’s going to happen again with this record.”

The maturing process will begin almost immediately, with Callinan and co. hitting the road around Australia this October before a return visit to Europe. There are some fundamental differences between live performance and recorded music, and from an artistic point of view Callinan isn’t interested in trying to minimise the distance between the two mediums.

“They really have very little to do with each other, other than they serve the songs. You think of all the great records that would’ve never been made if the artists were worrying about how they’re going to translate it live. A Night At The Opera [by] Queen, they never would’ve attempted anything half as ambitious as that if they were worrying about how they were going to do it live.”