Life is looking rather swell for Fanny Lumsden and The Thrillseekers.
As an in-demand live act, they have spent long enough on the road that it’s only a matter of time before a highway is named after them – and following the release of Lumsden’s debut album, Small Town Big Shot, the accolades continue to swell. With an expansive national tour underway – and with material for her next album already itching to be released – Lumsden looks back on the evolution of her sound, and explains exactly how she is connected to a female Elvis impersonator named Pelvis.
“So far we’ve had such wonderful feedback,” Lumsden says. “I kind of feel with putting out a new album you’re just standing there naked saying, ‘Judge meeee!’ I’ve heard from people who don’t usually say anything, people who aren’t ones to blow hot air at you, and it’s been so positive. It’s still early days, but because we did a Pozible campaign people have received their packages already and they’ve been putting photos up, they’re writing these amazing messages. That community around the campaign and release has been really wonderful.”
Indeed, it is not just the online community support that has buoyed Lumsden and her band during the course of writing and recording. From small town to big city, the country/folk performer has courted a vast array of influences, and now she’s settled in Sydney, the local music scene has exerted its own blend of inspirations and colour. While the folk world here has developed from strength to strength, it is by no means the only genre whose tendrils have caught her ear.
“I think here in Sydney it’s really supportive. A lot of people have told me I should move to Melbourne, but I like it here. I think it’s a great community, one that’s been through a lot of change. We first came up when we were playing this kind of ’50s folk thing, as you do; you go through your own different phases. And it is such a folky scene, but lately I think that alt-country/Americana scene has started to get quite strong.
“I think I’ve really only been recognised and pushed in the direction we’re going in the last couple of years. I grew up in the country, with country influences in both music and lifestyle. I listened to that music a lot, and my mum has a really strong classical background in my family, so that was really strong as well. I was quite devoid of pop culture, and as I got older I went away from country for a few years there, thinking that I hated it. Now I’ve kind of come full circle after five years, and I think we’re really settled into who we are.”
It is a journey that has served her well. While the songs on Small Town Big Shot are not your standard country fare, the connection to rural and regional Australia is unmistakable. It is a heritage of which Lumsden is justifiably proud, coming from generations of family who have lived and died upon the land. The rhythms of country life also make for a fitting corollary to the album; written over several years, the songs have changed a great deal as the seasons have shifted, growing in unexpected fashions with their roots deep in the soil of Lumsden’s life.
“The opening track, ‘Bravest Of Hearts’, I think I wrote that around three years ago now. It was just after we’d released our EP, so that one has really grown through touring and performing. People probably know that one quite well already. There are a few like that. I’ve written the songs over a bit of time now; they’ve all had the chance to breathe and find their space. I find that’s a better creative process for me, since it means that each song is its own. I could probably go through all of my songs and I would know exactly why I wrote them, what was happening at that time or what inspired them. Real life influences most of the songs. The only real exception, in that it’s more of a general account, is probably ‘Weatherman’ – but of course, everyone has had their heart broken before. But everything else tends to have been born from something specific.”
A colourful example of this is the track ‘Rattle & Your Role’, whose genesis lay in a production I truly hope one day makes its way to the stage.
“I wrote that while I was working on a play with the Tin Shed Theatre Company. It was called Pelvis, about a female Elvis impersonator who does the RSL clubs and hates her life. So that’s from the perspective of this girl who goes and sees this Pelvis show and gets really inspired. That’s the story behind it, which I don’t usually say because it’s a bit confusing. But it’s funny; I think even when I thought I hated country, I was still writing country songs. I was just calling it something else. But now I feel really comfortable.
“I think what I’m trying to say matches how we’re trying to say it. I also think age has a lot to do with that, and experience. I’m really glad it’s taken this long to put out the record, is what I’m trying to say, and I can be really proud of what I’m saying in it.”
Fanny Lumsden’sSmall Town Big Shot is out now through Social Family. See Fanny at St Stephen’s Hall onSaturday November 14, along withSarah Humphreys and Kris Morris.
