From the outside, it’s hard to believeAutumn Flow, Lior Attar’s brilliant debut album, is ten years old.
That said, it’s been an action-packed ten years, resulting in three more Lior LPs, various orchestral collaborations, stacks of international touring and a move from Sydney to Melbourne. Attar himself is well aware of the milestone, and over the next month he’ll be travelling around the country on a tenth anniversary tour.
“It feels like it’s been ten years,” he says. “I guess the expected response is, ‘I can’t believe it’s been ten years,’ but a lot has happened since then in all facets of my life. The reason that I am doing this tour is that Autumn Flow was the beginning of this incredible journey and is what has allowed me to do all of these special things.”
Shortly after his debut came out, Attar was driving back from a gig and feeling a little miserable, which is when he first heard his music on the radio. “That was right at the end of the launch tour that I did,” he says. “I just put out an album of songs that I really loved and I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was taking a band around and playing shows to no-one. I was feeling pretty down and out when I was driving home and I was absolutely stone broke. Triple j said [to listeners], ‘Tell us what you think,’ and due to the public response they then went on to feature the album. That was the beginning of touring nationally.”
Autumn Flow’s opening number, ‘This Old Love’, has become one of Lior’s most widely loved tracks. Pairing beautiful, sweeping strings with a simple band arrangement, it sounds just as interesting today as it did a decade ago. However, back when the song was written, Attar couldn’t have conceived the sort of acclaim it would go on to receive.
“I wrote that around the time that I went to see Darren Hanlon, and he had all these gorgeous little packages of ideas that were presented in short songs,” Attar says. “I just wrote that as a song that was about coming out of the summer of youth and entering adulthood. It was almost by accident that it was received as a love song. It resonated with people because of that, and I guess I didn’t realise that at the time.”
Those familiar with the kids’ TV show Giggle And Hoot may know that Attar has penned a few tracks for the program, including the APRA Award-winning ‘Hey Hootabelle’. Although it’s a step away from his regular gig, Attar says his involvement with the show has been extremely rewarding.
“I was doing a tour back in 2009 called Shadows And Light,which was a collaboration with a visual artist. The producer of it came to me one night and floated the idea of writing a goodnight song. I’d never written any children’s songs before, and little did I know it would become about the biggest show on the ABC. It’s probably the most successful thing I have ever done.”
Lior’s touring schedule includes an appearance at this year’s Queenscliff Music Festival, taking place in Victoria during the last weekend of November. Along with its recognition of Autumn Flow’s tenth birthday, his Queenscliff set will be especially significant, given he played there in the early days of his career.
“I didn’t really know too much about the Queenscliff Music Festival and I remember stepping out onto the stage solo and I had about 3,000 people in front of me, and I was just terrified. It’ll be great to get back there once again. I can’t wait to hit the stage with the band and play through this record from start to finish.”
Lior appears at Enmore Theatre, withDomini Forster, onSaturday October 10.
