It's been four years since Shane Nicholson, one of Australia's most celebrated country singer-songwriters, released his last studio album, 'Love And Blood'.
The multiple ARIA Award-winning songwriter, who has topped the charts with 2008 album 'Rattlin' Bones', a collaboration with his then-wife Kasey Chambers, has been a staple on the Australian music scene since releasing his debut record 'It's A Movie' in 2002.While the time between albums might appear as though Nicholson has had a break from the music scene, the songwriter reveals over the phone that he's been as busy as ever working behind the scenes as a record producer for other musicians while simultaneously creating his latest album, 'Living In Colour'.
"It's been a little longer than normal, but the world has been a little stranger than normal," Nicholson says.
"Over the last couple of years, I pretty much focused on the production work I was doing for other people; and with COVID around, there wasn't a lot of touring that could happen.
"We were originally planning for this record to come out a year before, but the tour couldn't happen so we kind of put it on ice for a while and I focused on producing.
"The irony of this whole situation with COVID is even though the music industry has kind of shutdown, there's more people making music than ever and as a producer, I've been busier than ever.
"I guess people have had more time to write songs and plan what they are going to do when they get back on the road, and I've been pretty much in the studio, flat out for two years."
With the level of production work he's had on his plate, Nicholson describes 'Living In Colour' as an "accidental album".
Unlike his previous works, which were more meticulously thought out and followed a certain narrative and structure, 'Living In Colour' came to life after working on other projects.
"I was working on my album, 'Living In Colour', in this down time at the end of a long day or a long session; I would do an hour or two online and just kind of chip away at it and it eventually came together, and it accidentally got finished. So, I think of it as the accidental album.
"I started one song and then wrote another song and another song. It didn't feel like [the album] was spawned of something or there was a light bulb moment in one direction.
"It slowly happened and progressed over the time. I've never had an album like that in the past. I've always focused and worked full time on a record and suspended all reality until it was done. It kind of just grew into itself."
'Living In Colour' – which has been preceded by singles 'Harvest On Vinyl', 'Life Ain't Fine' and 'And You Will Have Your Way' – has a distinctly sombre tone; the latter single Nicholson describes as a "two-pronged song".
"It's about the fact that I realised I have two parallel lines of time running through my life," begins Shane.
"On one timeline, I am finding myself getting older and I find that my patience gets short and my pessimism has reached peak level, and I find I just get to that point where your designs on life as a young person has changed, and faded and eroded over time and you struggle with that sense of the world not being as perfect as we thought it was when we were kids.
"The other timeline is that [life] happens, I take comfort in my close circles and relationships, and that's what that song is about. It's about realising that those things are your shelter and taking stock of it."
In addition to reflecting on middle age and fatherhood, Nicholson also contemplates about loss on the track. In 2019 he lost a close friend and member of his band for 16 years to suicide.
"[My group of friends] were always close, but it made us more aware of the importance of checking in more and being more open and available to each other," Shane says.
"When you don't see something like that coming to part of your team, it shakes the foundations; but if there's any positives it's that we've all responded in a way that makes us remember the importance of those relationships and the importance of being open.
"It's only a two-and-a-half-minute song, it's not trying to save the world; but it distils a whole bunch of thoughts and feelings into a tiny, little, polished nugget of gold."
Nicholson's success is no doubt in part thanks to his ability to connect with listeners; and the 'Bad Machines' crooner says the lack of live performances this year has been difficult for both performers and audiences alike.
"I've seen it from both sides; musicians struggling with the concept about not being able to perform for people, but I've also seen it from the fraction where there was a gap last year in our lockdowns and we did a bunch of shows and the audience, which was half the size, had twice as much fun as normal.
"They were just ready and it's not just the musicians who miss it, it's everybody. It's not just music they are missing but connecting or experiencing something with other humans."
'Living In Colour' is available now.
Shane Nicholson 2021-2022 Tour Dates
Fri 8 Oct - Hardys Bay Club (Central Coast)Sun 17 Oct - Lizotte's Newcastle
Fri 3 Dec - Murray Delta Junkie Joint (Goolwa)
Sat 4 Dec - The Barn (Wombat Flat)
Sun 5 Dec - Trinity Sessions (Adelaide)
Wed 19 Jan - Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre
Wed 19 Jan - The Pub, (Tamworth)*evening
Thu 3 Feb - Live at Bundy Hall (Bundalaguah)
Fri 4 Feb - Macedon Railway Hotel (Mount Macedon)
Sat 5 Feb - Memo Music Hall (Melbourne)
Sun 6 Feb - Caravan Club (Archies Creek)
Fri 11 Feb - Factory Floor (Sydney)
Sat 12 Feb - Bowral Bowling Club
