Fresh from winning season ten of 'Australian Idol', Sunshine Coast singer-songwriter and pianist Marshall Hamburger steps out on his own with debut single 'Thought Of You!'.
Channelling his own idols such as Michael McDonald and Stevie Wonder, Marshall reworked his original song 'Thought Of You!" with a yacht-rock polish to produce a classic slice of retro-inflected pop.
"I wrote the song about two years ago, I think I was a just a year out of high school, and I wrote it about the high school love experience that I had," Marshall explains.
"It was a lot of yearning and being too shy to actually talk to the girl I really liked. So, I wrote it about the thought of that person being so cool that it still makes you happy.
"It was about the experience of having a crush, really. I was going through the demos after 'Idol' and looking through all the songs I've written over the years. It was a cool, catchy song to start the while original release schedule with.
"I've rerecorded it, pretty much worked the whole song from the ground up again, then sent it over to Dorian West who's the musical director on 'Idol', and we worked on it together to get it produced and sounding as awesome as it does now."
Hailing from the semi-rural town of Doonan (Sunshine Coast), Marshall became an early standout in this year's season of 'Australian Idol' with powerful renditions of 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic', 'Higher Love', and 'Hip To Be Square', winning the hearts of judges and viewers alike.
Marshall says it wasn't until his performance of Daryl Braithwaite classic 'As The Days Goes By' in the top ten that the thought of actually winning 'Australian Idol' crossed his mind as a reality.
"I remember seeing the public perception to that, and just really how I felt in the moment. That felt really good, and I thought: 'If I keep doing this every week, I think I have a really good shot'," he says.
'Thought Of You!' is just the beginning for Marshall in his solo career, with additional single releases planned over the following months as he moves toward his next goal of releasing a full-length album. "We are planning for another single release in November," Marshall says.
"We already have the master of the single pretty much ready to go; we're just waiting on a good time to release it out into the world. We're thinking mid-November for the next one, and it's as good as the first one that we just released. It's that happy pop style, a different groove, and more natural funk than super synthy."
In a music market already teeming with talent, Marshall Hamburger strives for authenticity to separate himself from the horde. It's advice he swears by.
"Something I did learn throughout the whole 'Idol' experience was to definitely be yourself and put yourself out there 110 per cent," he says.
"Because the only thing that separates you from anyone else doing music on the entire planet is literally you: Who you are, your character, the way you interpret music, and the way you present yourself to people.
"Giving that out on the stage 110 per cent is really key to being an awesome performer."
Marshall Hamburger plays Southport Sharks (Gold Coast) on 24 October.
