No Label, No Limits… Davey Lane on Crafting His Most Adventurous Record Yet

Acclaimed musician and songwriter Davey Lane has today released his long-awaited fourth solo album, Finally, A Party Record. Carving out its place as one of the year’s essential listens, this eclectic, deeply crafted record is all swagger, hooks, and heart – with rich emotional undercurrents beneath the glitter. The underlying themes of the album delve into trauma and heartbreak, but Lane delivers them by marrying emotional depth with a vibrant, hook-heavy, late-70s LA sound. Co-produced by Davey and Rob Muinos (Julia Jacklin, Didirri, Rowena Wise, Sasquatch), the record features singles God, I’m Fcked Up Over You, and Over, Over & Out, the latter currently on high rotation on Double J.

Also joining the party are Nitida Atkinson, who lends lead vocals on the opener (An Absent Lover), with backing vocals throughout the record from the likes of Phil Jamieson (Flippant Words), Angus Leslie (Not Expecting To Fly), Loretta Miller (Not Expecting To Fly, Flippant Words, Remedies), Gem Choir (If It Can Rain, It’ll Rain), and even a scream from Kram on Remedies. Adding to the sonic palette are touches of horns, marimbas, pedal steel, double bass, and a Mellotron, all in service of Lane’s technicolour take on melancholy funk/pop. Davey Lane talks to Hi Fi Way about the album.

The perfect lead into an interview. Finally, A Party Record...
Yeah, finally a party. Obviously, there’s a healthy dose of irony in the title.

Are you stoked with album number four, and how it ended up?
Yeah, I was thinking of calling it Number 4 Record. But I did some Googling and found someone had already taken that title! I’m just stoked that I’ve been doing this however long I’ve been doing it, and I’ve been able to make four records. I’d like them to be more frequent, but putting records out is expensive stuff.

Four solo albums now, that’s no mean feat?
Absolutely, my own creative endeavors came out of spending the first few years in You Am I, and having downtime from that. I’d always dabbled with writing songs growing up, none of which anyone will ever hear, mercifully.

Has songwriting become more important to you over time?
As life’s gone on, I’ve leaned on songwriting and recording as a necessity. It’s become an outlet, a form of therapising, I guess.

Did the songs come quickly this time around, or was the album a while in the making?
Musically, most of the ideas came during the Dark Ages, when we were all locked in our houses for a couple of years here in Melbourne. I’m always pottering around with ideas. Musical ideas come reasonably quickly. Sometimes I write lyrics first, but more often it starts with a musical idea. A melody presents itself, I sing something, maybe gibberish or something that phonetically sounds cool. Then I listen back and try to find meaning in it. For these new songs, they sat in that “almost finished” musical stage for a long time.

I needed stuff in my life to happen to inform what the songs were going to be about. And yeah, stuff started happening. It wasn’t great stuff, but it gave me something to write about. If there’s anything I’m grateful for, it’s that outlet. That form of self-therapy. I’m just grateful I get to do that, to work through things in life.

Sonically, was there anything particular that influenced this record? There’s a subtle shift in your sound.
I’m inspired by whatever is going on around me at the time. I’ve got a pool of musical influences that have always been there, The Beatles is the most obvious one, and that’ll always be part of it. This record leans more into that eighties art pop realm, Tears for Fears, XTC, Peter Gabriel, a bit of Hall & Oates.

They’re all good bands…
Yeah, and they were sonic adventurers. I’m more inspired by their musical adventurousness than any specific sound or production style. One of the few benefits of not being signed to a major label, or having commercial success, is that I can do whatever I want. I don’t have to adhere to anything that’s come before. I can just follow whatever my muse is at the time.

That must be hard though. Your songs are so good. I think it’s literally going to take just one song for someone to take notice and think, “Wow, there’s so much more here to be unearthed.” It seems like a crime against music that there hasn’t been the commercial success.
Well, that’s very kind of you to say, thank you. When I do write, when I do make music, I want to make the kind of music that I would like to hear if I switch on the radio. Even if they have little weird left turns in them, it’s still pop music at the end of the day. I want to make music that can address some difficult things thematically, but still be memorable and hooky and whatnot.

I think I was creatively a late bloomer. It’s taken me until now, in my mid-forties, to feel vaguely confident and comfortable with my own abilities and limitations as a songwriter and a singer. That’s just the reality of it. I don’t know if many other forty four-year-olds are going to suddenly have breakthrough success. But it’s not going to stop me doing what I’m doing. Making music is a compulsion for me, an obsession, an addiction of sorts. But it’s a healthy one. Nothing bad can come of it. So why not keeping on?

Did you end up playing pretty much all the instruments yourself on this album?
No, the couple of records before, I had done that quite a bit. But this time around, I had all these musical ideas and felt a bit overwhelmed. I felt daunted by the idea of finishing everything by myself. So I went into a studio with my friend Rob Muinos, who’s a great engineer and producer. He does more singer-song writery stuff, he’s worked with Didirri and just did Julia Jacklin’s new record.

He’s got a great musical ear. We had a band playing, so a lot of what you hear on the record is me on guitar, Luke Hodgson on bass, he’s a good mate and a monster bass player I’ve played with for years and Sam Raines, an amazing drummer. We did bed tracks as a band, and then Rob and I worked on overdubs, or I’d take stuff away and tinker on it myself. We brought in whoever was appropriate for the song. We did some brass and pedal steel on one track, stuff that’s out of my realm of ability. So we got the right people in for the job.

Co-producing as well. That must be another step up, and possibly something you might do more of in the future?
Yeah, it certainly lightens the load. At the time, I was unsure of myself in a lot of ways, so it was nice to have someone else there who was decisive and made good decisions. I’d love to get more into production, writing and producing for other people would be something I’d love to do more of. I’ve had enough practice that I think I could do a reasonable job for others. So yeah, that’s something I’d definitely be up for down the line.

What were your thoughts hearing the final version of the album, start to finish, for the first time?
It’s a trip for me. Emotionally, when I finished those songs, I wasn’t in a great space mentally. But I’ve had enough distance from it now that I can listen and still acknowledge what the songs mean and what they’re about, while also having come out the other side of it a stronger person, I hope. I feel proud listening back. I’m proud of the amount of ground it covers in thirty seven minutes or however long it is. For something that can be so disparate sonically, I’m proud of how it all sticks together as a cohesive piece.

So how do you celebrate release day?
I’m going to be on tour, actually with ARC. I don’t know where I’ll be. I think I’m in Canberra. I’ll probably have a quiet drink with my mates and play some Pink Floyd songs.

Is there much happening in You Am I and are there any plans for the summer?
Yeah, well, we had some really good shows earlier in the year, and things are really good at the moment. So I can’t see why we wouldn’t. We’re touring right through to the end of the year, and there’s stuff on the horizon for next year as well. We’ll just keep chipping away. We haven’t made any huge concrete plans for next year yet, but there’s stuff on the horizon, and things will materialise, I’m sure.

There’s more anniversaries and milestones to come as well.
Yeah, there’s a bit of that happening later in the year and early next year as well. Obviously, next year’s thirty years of Hourly Daily, so there’ll be something. I think Andy’s found some tapes he’s getting digitised that have some interesting stuff on them, so there’ll be things happening around that.

Even with your own tour dates, you must be excited to be getting out there doing your own thing. Is there a plan to go a bit broader around the country?
I would love to. I’d love to be in the position. The only thing is, making music at the level I do is freeing in some aspects, but in that aspect it’s quite constricting. People say, “Come here, come there,” and I’d love nothing more than to be able to do that. But at this point, it’s just expensive. To fly a band around, to feed them, and all that kind of thing, it’s expensive. So we’ll get these shows done and see how we go. I’d love to, the more the better, but it’s just a matter of the opportunities and making them work financially. With doing my own thing, I’m lucky enough to be busy with other things that can financially offset what I do on my own. I’m happy to lose a bit of money, but you just can’t keep hemorrhaging thousands of dollars every time you want to go out and play two shows somewhere.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Finally, A Party Record. is out now via Cheersquad Records & Tapes.

ORDER YOUR COPY ON VINYL HERE