An indie rock band brimming with sonic talent (check their previous four EP releases as a guide), Brisbane band Cedarsmoke are now the owners of a debut album.
'Into The Wild World' features 13 songs that traverse from energetic indie rock and acoustic folk-style ballads to piano-driven numbers.Add subject matter about embracing adulthood and associated responsibilities, and Cedarsmoke have crafted a collection of songs equally at home on AM and community radio as they are on the playlist of any weekend barbie or soundtracking a lazy day reading your favourite book.
"'Into The Wild World' is our debut album following four EPs, it is an amalgam of the musical and lyrical elements encompassed on our previous releases," says the band.
"Lyrically, the songs deal with different aspects of being in your 20s and being in the throes of a 'quarter-life crisis'. It aims to convey that entering adulthood is also like entering the real and wild world, and the first time you have to properly confront adult freedoms and responsibilities like work, sex, love, money, alcohol, excess and restraint.
"These themes are omnipresent throughout the album as it opens with an entry to adulthood on 'We Settle Into The Night', details characters at different stages of their 20s before ultimately, leaving youth behind on closer, 'Those Days Are Gone'.
"We wanted to make the album eclectic with upbeat rock songs, acoustic ballads and piano-driven mid-tempo numbers, while threading some consistent musical elements to tie it all together.
"These motifs include the guest vocals of Maddie Keinonen (Dumb Things), mellotron, 12-string acoustic guitar and slide guitar.
"The album is also heavily stamped by the input of Cam Smith (Tape/Off, Spirit Bunny, Terra Pines) who played drums, other sundry instruments, recorded and mixed the album."
We Settle Into The Night
This one was really set up as the opener. It introduces the lyrical themes and some of the main musical elements that are threaded through the album like the 12-string acoustic guitar, mellotron, slide guitar and Maddie Keinonen’s vocals. The album title is also taken from a line in this song.Never Mind
This song is about feeling socially anxious while coming to grips with the fact that socialising is a necessary part of life. It's one of the rockier moments on the album and we went for a bit of a classic-rock vibe with the harmonica and slide guitars.Being Young Is Getting Old
This one began with the title and evolved from there. It's about the downside of youth and being in your 20s, but it's a bit tongue-in-cheek. It didn't really take shape though until we were in the studio. I was a bit unsure where to take it and Cam Smith who contributed drums, mellotron and effects pedals was really pivotal to the final arrangement.Some Things
This one is a love song that follows the two main characters for a few decades. The genesis was the image of the reverend drowning/ submerging children to baptise them and followed from there. It shows how the characters are impacted by their formative years, how they grow out of phases and how they begin to mature.I wanted it to sound like 'Quiet Heart' by The Go-Betweens. I'm not sure if it does, but it was worth aiming for.
Half Bad
This song is about getting through the parts of life that are only half bad without being terrible. The main idea is that it's not worth getting down about things that don't matter very much. It's bookended by dual 12-string acoustic guitars that provide an inversed intro and outro to the song, which is my favourite part of the song.Anything
This one was intended as an optimistic love song lyrically, and musically we went for an upbeat arrangement to go with the words, which is something we don't often do as a lot of our songs are quite melancholic. This is also part of why we chose certain bright sounds like the mandolin and synthesiser.Lyrically, the verses detail a relationship with short scenes and stream-of-consciousness references to nursery rhymes, eclipses and travel. Maddie Keinonen's vocal melodies are really great in it too.
The Bitter End
This one is a reality check after the saccharine love song that precedes it. It deals with the dichotomy of freedom and commitment. It looks at the Sunk Cost Fallacy when it comes to being in a relationship with someone and deciding whether it's best to cut your losses or stick it out to the bitter end.Time To Leave
This song is about knowing when it's time to leave. The main riff is really fun to play and we enjoy ourselves live with this one. It takes the form of a standard rock song, but we snuck some accordion and 12-string acoustic in there to mix it up a bit.Sideways
'Sideways' is the softest song on the album. It's a gentler love song than some of the others and was written as more of a short snapshot of a feeling. It also serves more as an interlude between the full band songs and a change of pace sandwiched between two of the rockier tracks. We kept this minimal with 6-string and 12-string guitars, and soundscapes and mellotron provided by Cam.Sadly Ever After
This song was intended to represent a happy ending that is more realistic than a fairytale one. It attempts to do this lyrically by mixing fairytale clichés (like lovers running off together) with anodyne realities (like having enough long-service leave to do so). Musically, we kept things simple with a '50s-type do-wop progression layered with distorted guitars and punchy synths.An August Night
This one was written on the piano and inspired by Counting Crows. Cam made some similar noise scapes inspired by Wilco's 'Summerteeth' that we also used on 'Being Young Is Getting Old'. He also put some accordion on this, which really tied the outro together. Lyrically, it deals with characters as they go on a car-seat date, graduate from uni and travel overseas.Only Pain
This was one of the first songs written for the album, but it felt more at home towards the end than the beginning. Basically, it's about suicide and not throwing in the towel in that respect. It also looks at how suicide is glorified in popular culture. It references two of the more famous literary suicides in Sylvia Plath and Ernest Hemingway.Those Days Are Gone
The song is a nostalgic reflection on the chaos of being in your 20s, the freedom of youth and being done with all that. Musically, it's a folk ballad with acoustic and slide guitars, piano, and harmonica. As the last track, we really wanted it to pull together all of the themes on the album and give it a lyrical conclusion.Cedarsmoke play The Bearded Lady (Brisbane) 5 November.
