MICHAEL DWYER

April 30, 2010

SOMEWHERE between her commercial high with It’s Only the Beginning and a baffling electronic experiment called Ultrasound, mercurial indie diva Deborah Conway left compromise in a ditch.

This is her ninth studio album (under numerous guises) with husband Willy Zygier, and from his jaunty Wes Montgomery-styled instrumental overture to a charming banjo lullaby featuring their three daughters, it fairly saunters with a relaxed resolve to be whatever it wants to be.

The tone is mostly set by Zygier’s smiling feel for acoustic strings of all stripes: Somewhere Different and Chromatic Jew are dappled country folk; Agar Rag drips with sepia; a woody mandolin and muted Salvation Army band flavour the contented domestic waltz, Cul De Sac.

There’s tougher stuff too: Take Pity on the Beast is intense, existential blues that nearly overcooks in eight minutes of biblical allegory but the tonally challenging gutbucket swing of Spoken Like a Man may be the highlight.

Far from chasing pop currency, it’s mainly the sweet air of another century that pervades here. But it’s their parlour and, clearly, nobody tells them how to decorate.

Daily Telegraph

Blessed with an angelic voice, deft at lyrical wordplay and armed with a seemingly inexhaustive melody well, Conway – and partner Zygier – create songs which become best friends for life. You can hear the influence of her Patsy Cline tribute shows lingering in One Chance, while Accidents Happen In The Home recalls Martha Davis. Beautifully played, you can hear every single note and the care taken to let the songs breathe. Special guests include Paul Kelly and Toni Collette.

Kathy Macabe

Rolling Stone

There are two potentially scary aspects about Summertown. Firstly, Deb Conway wants to be ?mature?; and secondly, it?s incredibly ambitious to aim to write songs as perfect as those of Carole King, James Taylor et al. But these fears are unfounded. Apart from the odd uneasy moment, Summertown is magical. An acoustic album with classical moves, Conway is subtle and restrained. Partners in music and life, she and Zygier create upbeat gems, dramatic ballad, lullabies and pop with country music being an almost unconscious influence. Guests included Toni Collette and Paul Kelly, plus members of Augie March and the John Butler Trio. Why Conway isn?t a world-famous diva is a mystery. Maybe she could have been if she had auditioned for Neighbours.

Annette Basile

WHO Magazine

Summertown – Now Hear This

Sometimes a bad break is a lucky break. Apparently Conway broke an arm while writing her latest album, so she was sidelined from playing guitar, and long time partner- collaborator Zygier had to keep things simple and play rhythm. The result is a collection of songs that doesn?t fuss around, keeping things concise and painting everything in primary colours. That said, Conway?s storytelling ability has developed to a point where she?s not afraid to tackle the big old genres, and she has a nice line in understatement (Accidents Happen In The Home?) and in finding a new angle in a well-worn theme(?Something?s Right?). Meanwhile, ?Sunday Morning? (with Toni Collette on backing vocals) is so breezy and carefree that it warms the cockles of your heart. I?ve ploughed through many, many albums by female singer-songwriters of late that are either overly flowery or cloyingly self-obsessed, so it?s pleasant to hear Conway tiptoeing a fairly steady line between heartbreak and infatuation with barely a hiccup.

Barry Divola

Although she’s been out of the public eye for the past two years,
singer-songwriter Deborah Conway has been busier than the proverbial bee.

In addition to having her third child with musical collaborator and partner
Willy Zygier, Conway also worked on some diverse musical projects.

Together with Willy, she performed at the 1998 Adelaide Festival as part of
Voice, Jam and Videotape. Later that year, she joined the Tasmanian Symphony
Orchestra for a song called “When I Get Younger”, written with composer
George Dreyfuss for the Timelines album (a collaboration between young and
older people for the International Year of the Older Person). Last year,
work began in earnest on her follow up to 1997’s My Third Husband.

Conway’s new album, Exquisite Stereo, is out May 1, and judging by the
album’s cheeky first single, Radio Loves This, we’re in for a mighty aural
feast.

Conway says the single came to her on a hot summer’s day, just as she was
contemplating a siesta.

“The half sleep [is] one of my most creative times,” she laughs. “It [the
single] is kind of an ironic look at the way radio’s gone these days —
swallowed up by the corporate bodies. I guess it’s been that way for a long,
long time. It’s a little twist on the fact that radio hasn’t loved me in an
awfully long time.”

Could this change things?

“You never know, you keep your fingers crossed.”

Deborah admits Radio Loves This harks back to her youth when she listened to
3XY on a transistor radio through an ear-piece, either when she was supposed
to studying or asleep. Given that, the track has a compressed AM feel driven
by an infectious keyboard line.

The keyboards come courtesy of Cameron Reynolds from electronica outfit,
Barko, who’s now a part of Conway’s band. He teamed up with Conway and
Zygier to record the album.

“We were actually sort of wandering around the streets of Brunswick at
festival time when we saw this electronica/techno outfit called Barko which
we didn’t know at the time,” Deborah recalls. “They caught our attention —
just out of the corner of my eye — because they sounded really good. Some
weeks later we started thinking about putting the band together, and Willy
said: ‘What about that techno act we saw?'”

“I tracked them down because they were on the Push stage. There’s a state
government initiative that funds new talent, called Push, and so I looked
them up through there, found the number of this guy (Cameron) and spoke to
him, and he was really amiable to the idea and came along and we met and got
along really well.”

“After a while of trying to work through session players to get a rhythm
section happening, he said: ‘What about these friends of mine?’ They were
great — they’re the rhythm section from Augie March. It [the album] was
conceived as a band. It was recorded as a band, it will be toured as a band.
I’m determined to keep touring for most of the year.”

Deborah Conway and band play the Zoo on Saturday night and the Playroom on
Sunday, April 2. ‘Radio Loves This’ is out now through Shock Records.

Deborah Conway is angry at the music industry. Very angry. Why? WHY?! Noise
restrictions? Major record company monopolies? The pulling of stock from
major retail chains? Hell, we should be frothing at the mouth, burning our
CDs and retreating to the forests to play the piccolo.

But Deborah is back with a new single, the caustically titled Radio Loves
This, and a batch of national tour dates, revelling in the old
if-you-can’t-beat-them-join-them catchcry. It’s been a busy few years since
we heard from her last — time spent making a new record, having another
baby, and moving her brood back to Australia from the UK.

“I live in Melbourne now,” Deborah reports, gearing up for a lively chat.
“It’s the place I call home. Home is comfortable. Home is knowable and easy.
It’s not necessarily challenging, but that’s not necessarily what I need at
the moment. I think that anyone might say that about their home. It’s not a
blot on Australia particularly, but I think you can point a finger at
Australia and say that we’re so conservative. I mean, radio particularly,
which is soooo conservative, has so many people over a barrel, but I think
there are other advantages to living here.”

Conway embraced yet another change on top of all the moving, birthing and
recording when she left longtime label Mushroom for Shock Records late last
year.

“We decided to go indie. The relationship with Mushroom ended,” she says
shortly. “My Third Husband came out and they didn’t really understand at all
how to promote it, consequently it kinda floundered and we were both unhappy
with each other. After that whole experience I was pretty fed up with record
companies. I think as technology improves record companies will become more
and more redundant and you’ll be able to reach out to your audience more
directly.”

It was precisely this dissolution with the music industry and its commercial
nature that prompted the sardonic title of the first single.

“Since the fall of the Berlin Wall there’s been no left. Left left!” Deborah
quips. “Music, like everything else, reflects the culture at large, and it’s
very corporatised, and radio reflects that too. Just look at the success of
a show like Popstars! It’s genius! It’s absolutely brilliant. It’s so
post-post-post modern, but it’s not about music. And everybody knows that.”

Theres a pause before Deborah says, a bit worriedly: “I think.”

The irony, of course, is that radio does love Conway. It seems no working
day is complete without the requisite flogging of It’s Only The Beginning.

“But they haven’t played anything since then!” Conway exclaims loudly. “I’ve
become fossilised somehow. It’s very frustrating and I almost feel like it’s
personal. I feel like the fact that I am an older woman means I’m not
allowed to succeed — there’s like this glass ceiling. I never thought there
was, but there is. It’s ageism more than anything else. I think men feel it
too — I’m not suggesting it’s a solely female thing — but it’s more acute
when you’re a woman. Unlike a lot of other professions, the amount of
experience you have and the maturity you can bring to your work is not
appreciated.”

Still, where radio fails, touring will always succeed. And Conway is itching
to get on the road.

“I’m excited,” she enthuses. “We made the record last April, so that’s been
a year sitting in the can because halfway through the process I … had,
well, we had … an accident.”

A happy accident!

“Yes, a very happy accident,” she laughs. “So, I didn’t really want to go
out on the road like a freakshow again and become known as that pregnant
singer. So I put it off. But I think it’s a blessing really. I can give it
my full attention.”

Deborah Conway –
“Exquisite Stereo” (Shock) – Rating: 7 (out of 10)

Deborah Conway could be wondering where all the rockstars have gone, as a

CD of the Week by Shaun Carney

Exquisite Stereo – Deborah Conway (Shock)
As a musician, Deborah Conway has always been a risk-taker and her new album

Restless music – by Jane Rocca

May 05 2000 04:40:55

When 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

Playing with ire

Motherhood has not dulled Deborah Conway’s sense of rage. Just get her started about radio. Iain Shedden reports.

For every Australian music fan who thinks Bardot’s chart-topping success is

Exquisite Stereo – four out of four stars
It’s been a long time between hits for DC (remember “Its Only The Beginning” or even “Man Overboard”), but this CD deserves more than just critical acclaim. Yes, it is exqusite stereo – Conway’s voice is brilliant and she’s somehow ended up with all the passion that Mariah and Celine had surgically removed. “Radio Loves This” is a stand-out track that radio, surely, will have to love. (4 Stars)

The brand plays on

The name may remain the same, but Deborah Conway’s new CD is a team effort.
Matt Buchanan discovers why she was tired of going it alone.

Deborah Conway’s new solo album, Exquisite Stereo, is not a solo album. You

These are the unedited responses rather than what was actually printed in the Sunday Age.

What material possession couldn’t you live without?

I’m in love with my recently acquired Neumann 149 valve microphone. I’ve been recording a couple of new tracks for Only The Bones (the best of album that’s out this week) and the vocals sound like honey; it’s taken home recording to a whole new place. Frankly I can’t believe I’ve lived without one for so long, I certainly intend to never live without one again.

What book do you return to most often?

I have a very well thumbed Collected Works of Robert Graves and I’ve just recently reread The Master and Margherita and remembered all over again why it s one of my all time favourite novels.

If money were no object, where would you live?

Damn good question and one I ve been asking myself for a while since we’re rapidly growing out of our house. I rather fancy that big white place with the turrets in the middle of the Botanical Gardens, I ll have to get my agent on to it.

What would your last meal be?

You really need more of a context for this question, like is it my last
meal because I’m to be hanged the following morning for some heinous crime – comfort food, chopped liver, chicken soup, oven roasted chicken and potatoes and some cheesecake; or am I dying of a ghastly disease that has eaten the insides of my colon, bowel and stomach (from eating too much comfort food) – probably a fresh squeezed watercress, beetroot, apple and lemon juice, intravenously of course; or is the moment of death unknowable
at the time of said last meal anything that Willy cooks for me is pretty sensational but I’d be very happy if the meal included his Jerusalem artichoke and chestnut soup, cabbage & apple salad and mushroom pastries.

What do you love/hate about Melbourne?

Love : Autumn skies, Queen Victoria market, the botanical gardens, most of Collins Street, Williamstown

Hate : hot north winds, the taunting of summers false start followed by another month of winter weather in December, the mostly unrelieved flatness.

What has been the happiest day of your life?

13th February 1995 when I held my first baby girl fresh and dripping from my womb. Like nothing else I had ever experienced until the 28th of January 1998 and the 30th December 1999 when I got to hold the 2nd and 3rd.

What do you regret?

Most of my real estate decisions, never winning Powerball and not writing Moon River, that was a real blow.

Where do you escape to?

Recently I escaped from real life by being Patsy Cline. That was very
cool. I got to sing lots of great songs to adoring Patsy Cline fans, party afterwards and, no matter what time I got home, sleep 8 hours. After prolonged sleep deprivation that was definitely a highlight.

What are you afraid of?

Public speaking, car crashes, and just closing
my eyes to sleep when I hear the sound of a crying child.

What’s your favourite sound/smell?

Sound :my children laughing, one of my songs on the radio that isn’t It’s Only The Beginning

Smell: something delicious on the stove, the top of a new baby’s head, coffee, even though I don’t drink it much, this yummy fig bubble bath I’ve got.

What makes you happy to be alive?

It creeps up on me, walking around Williamstown with the sun coming up behind me and the moon still full and hanging around in the western sky is pretty sure fire. Playing music for people who are digging it, being in total control of my instrument, starting off on holiday with my family.

When did you last cry?

Last weekend from extreme frustration, don’t ask.

What was the last thing you bought that you shouldn’t have?

This question makes me realise that clearly I don t do enough shopping.

What are you good at?

making cakes, receiving massages

Have you ever had a mentor?

Dorland Bray was my first mentor. We met when I joined The Benders, a Melbourne band of which he was the drummer. We went on to form Do Re Mi, and he was the first person that I wrote a song with.

What’s your favourite piece of music?

This is an impossible question, music is something that works in tandem with your moods and surroundings how can anyone have one favourite piece?

I’ve set dinner party moods with Spain, Radiohead and Mel Torme, I’ve danced to the Sounds of Soweto, Prince and The Chemical Brothers, I’ve wailed to Tom Waites, Joni Mitchell and Dino Saluzzi.

When did you last get drunk?

I got completely smashed at a friends party about 3 years ago on Wild Turkey. Days later, I thought I was still recovering from the hangover, until I realised I was 6 weeks pregnant.

Who did you last kiss?

Willy, not a big Frenchie but slightly open with just a hint of inner lip,
he was going to bed before me. God, you guys get really personal.