Although she calls Sydney home these days, singer-songwriter Leah Flanagan is conducting this interview from her native land of Darwin.
She has just touched down for a one-off performance as part of NAIDOC Week, which will include a task that other musicians would find incredibly daunting: performing ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’, the Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody song widely considered to be one of the most important in the history of Australian popular music. Flanagan isn’t really fazed, however – it’s not even her first rodeo with Kelly.
“We’ve performed together a few times over the years,” she says. “We performed a duet earlier this year as a part of a show called Exile, and a recording of that is going to be released later on this year. We’ve also sung together a few times in the past through [Flanagan’s previous group] the Black Arm Band, as well. I’m very excited to be sharing his song at such an important time, as well – this will mark the 40th anniversary of the Wave Hill walk-off, so it’s as relevant now as it ever was.”
Following a quiet spell, Flanagan has finally come up for air after finishing work on her second studio album, Saudades, which is set for release in September. This month will see her heading out on a run of dates for the first time in a while, taking in mostly the capital cities on the east coast. She will be performing in duo mode, with Adam Pringle stepping in on lead guitar and backing vocal duties. “He came very highly recommended,” says Flanagan on her touring partner.
“I was asking around for a guitarist, and I was pretty specific about what I was after – ‘They’ve gotta sound like this, and be able to play like this,’ y’know? Independent of one another, Melanie Horsnell and Jackie Marshall both got in touch with me and they said, ‘You’ve got to get Adam Pringle.’ We decided to try it out with one show together, and he has pretty comfortably slipped in from there. The way he plays is really complementary and it works so well with the kind of music that I’m playing. One of the best parts of being a solo artist is being able to have that flexibility of working with different people – Adam is just one of the best around.”
Pringle is one of several musicians who appear on Saudades, which was recorded at Sydney’s Oceanic Studios. The studios have been home to artists such as The Jezebels, Art vs Science and Sarah Blasko, and are owned by Midnight Oil alum and multi-instrumentalist Jim Moginie. Much like Kelly, the legacy of Moginie is not one that’s lost on Flanagan. “I’m a child of the ’80s, and I grew up in a big indigenous family – there was no way you could escape Midnight Oil,” she says with a laugh.
“Before I started making this album, I wanted to learn more about the recording process. I more or less locked myself in the studio with Jim, partly to work on some new tracks that I had floating around but also to pick up as much information as I could about recording and producing. I learned a lot about sounds, and how to get certain tones from certain instruments. Instead of just writing songs acoustically and then taking them to my band, I started to think a lot more about what sounds could be involved. When it came to recording the album, we unanimously agreed that we couldn’t do it without Jim. We were able to rope him in to play some guitar, and he really left a mark on quite a few songs.”
In conjunction with the tour this month, Flanagan has released the first taste of what is to come from Saudades. Entitled ‘Chills’, this charming ballad came to Flanagan as somewhat of a surprise – it was written quickly, and arrived with such ease that even she was wary of it.
“I didn’t even think it was going to make the album,” she says. “I mean, there was no conflict. If you’ve written a song really fast, you just think of it as some little ditty. If you didn’t labour over it, you don’t think much of it. I remember waking up one morning, writing it in one sitting and taking it to my band. I was asking what they thought could be added, but they all had the same answer: that was the song. Less is more, they said. They were even the ones that picked it as the lead single – they were able to see whatever it was that I couldn’t in it.”
‘Chills’ – and, by extension, Saudades – comes some six years after Flanagan released her debut LP, Nirvana Nights. A lot can change in such a period of time, and it’s a fact of which Flanagan is well aware.
“I think that making art is a natural progression. I’ve written a lot of songs between the first album and now, and I’ve worked with a lot of different bands and a lot of different people. Some of the songs on my first record were something like ten years old when they were finally recorded – this is a much better reflection on where I am now.”
Leah Flanagan performs at The Midnight Special on Thursday July 21.
