Former Katoomba singer-songwriter Oliver Downes will perform in Katoomba on October 16 to mark the release of his debut album, Ultraviolet.
Arriving hot on the heels of its first single and video Never Let Me Go, Ultraviolet is Downes’ most ambitious project to date, a rich and rewarding sonic experience, bursting with chamber pop tunes exploring the tensions between modern life and fantasy, nostalgia and mindfulness, love and loss.
"I really wanted to navigate these ideas of constraint and escape, how much wriggle room we have within our circumstances, whether there's any real way of escaping who we are and whether we should really want to,” said Downes, now based in Melbourne.
Recorded by Jimi Lloyd-Wyatt (Gossling), mixed by Richie Belkner (Sarah Blasko, Ngaiire) and featuring guest appearances from Sydney luminaries Elana Stone and Brian Campeau, Ultraviolet is a series of lush soundscapes, veering from dreamy ballads to exhilarating, kinetic acoustic piano pop.
“Although I'm not the only person making art music using pop forms, or making alternative with small chamber-style groups rather than a more traditional band, I think it’s an unusual thing to do in Australia where rock and punk are such huge forces over one side of the table and sleek commercial pop weighs down the other.”
Central in bringing Downes’ Ultraviolet vision to light is instrumental art-folk trio The String Contingent, featuring the talents of Graham McLeod (electric guitar), Chris Stone (violin) and sister Holly Downes (double bass).
They lend a rustic eccentricity a la The Dirty Three to the song Under Quarantine - an indictment of Australia’s mandatory detention policies.
Chris’s brother Robin Stone (The Amenta, Norse) provides the rhythmic bedrock on drums, anchoring darker cuts like Walk Away and Fail Safe.
"Having spent such a long time living with some of the songs, they can become stuck in a groove far too easily. Inviting superb instrumentalists in to create their own parts was a good way to shine some new light on each track and render them somehow new to me,” said Downes.
His music can be loosely described as baroque pop, exploring territory charted by artists as diverse as Ben Caplan, Kate Bush, Scott Walker, Leonard Cohen and The Dirty Three.
Downes’ Katoomba show will be held at Hotel Blue on October 16 and also features Sydney-based instrumental music act, the Hinterlandt Ensemble. Doors open at 6pm. Tickets: www.fusionboutique.com.au or on the door unless sold out.
