Deborah Conway: The Age
Restless music - by Jane RoccaMay 05 2000 04:40:55When Deborah Conway gave birth for the third time last year, she knew it was time to reassess her relationship with songwriting. Conway happily juggles life as a mother and musician.
"My work comes in spasms," she says. "I think if you had a fulltime dayjob you'd miss out on your kids, whereas my work periods are very intense but very short, so I find it not so much of a strain."
Her latest album, Exquisite Stereo, is a reaction to 1997's My Third Husband. Unlike Conway's mellow approach to motherhood, her relationship with songwriting is changing constantly. She prefers to pick the faults with her past album efforts, rather than let them age peacefully in the background.
"I don't make the same record every time I head into the studio. I am musically more restless. I react to my dissatisfaction to my previous work and I think of ways to make something better. I try and stretch out, and it's an interesting journey to talk about where I have come from, because it's a real flowering process."
My Third Husband, written while Conway was living in London in 1996, was her last album with Mushroom Records. Now, she's settled into a new deal with Shock, and her new record comes complete with a declaration of her love of pop.
"People like Nick Cave makes the same record every time and they are good records. This isn't a criticism, it's an observation, but I can't and don't work like that."
For the first time since her Do Re Mi days, Conway made an effort to establish her band before recording the album. She performed secret gigs around town under the pseudonym City of Women, with a lineup of Cameron Reynolds on samplers and keyboards, and Augie March's Edmond Ammendola and Dave Williams on bass and drums.
"This time, I not only have the luxury of having a readymade band, but they all know each other intimately and can apply this to us. I can't believe it's taken me 15 years to figure that out."
Neil Finn lends vocal harmony on the album's title track, and elsewhere Conway's maternal instinct is present in You Came to Earth and Novocaine, dedicated to her children. "I find I have to censor myself a lot when I'm writing these days, as I don't want my songs all sounding mushy," she says. "But my kids are going to be an obvious influence in what I do, and I don't have a problem with that."
Exquisite Stereo is out on Monday through Shock. Deborah Conway plays the Continental, Prahran, on June 7 and 8, and the Commercial Hotel, Yarraville, on June 11.
This story was found at The Age Web Site
added Monday, 23 August, 2004
