Life has always been unconventional for the brain behind jazz-inflected, noir-soundtrack inspired, atmospheric band Ghostwoods.
A lifetime of colour reproduces itself in Ghostwood's moving, simmering music that bursts forth in exclaimed saxophone solos and rising strings. To understand the brooding complexity one must examine the mind behind – that of James Lees."It's always a little bitter sweet," Lees reflects over a cup of tea, as a dark storm slowly rolls over his Mount Nebo home. "I love getting music and artwork ready, and then suddenly you put it out. It's exciting when people start to notice it and play it, that's always very gratifying, of course."
Lees is referring to the release of his latest EP 'Stars', a work inspired by the request of his label 4000 Records to record a cover of a fellow Brisbane-based artist for their 'House Keys 2' compilation.
Lees eventually selected former bandmate Kellie Lloyd's 'We Are Made of Stars'. "I agonised over the choice of song for what seemed like six months," Lees admits. "I go back a long time with Kellie, we shared our first band Krud in 1990, when we were teenagers at Queensland College of Art.
"When I was going through Kellie's album 'Magnetic North' from 2012, I listened to 'We Are Made of Stars' and worked it out on the piano. The lyrics mentioned mountains and amps and hertzes, I really connected with that. The decision made itself in one minute.
"It came out on the 'House Keys 2' compilation, and has been reincarnated on the 'Stars' EP, because I make minimalist music, but I'm a maximalist.
"I thought it could be a whole record. I brought in Mia Goodwin, from It's Magnetic. We've collaborated before, when I created a show reinterpreting the music of 'Twin Peaks'.
"She's stunning and lovely to work with. She's also my neighbour. Her partner Jamie Trevaskis is an amazing producer and engineer with a beautiful studio here at Mount Nebo. They're just a four-minute walk around the corner from my house."
Three of the tracks on 'Stars' are instrumental, with the standout track 'Spiral Up' featuring a breathtaking saxophone solo that transports you into space.
"My musical heritage is '90s indie rock, hardcore punk, and folk, so using a saxophone wasn't part of my musical world until we did the 'Twin Peaks' shows. I fell in love with it.
"I got really attracted to this yearning, romantic thing the sax can do, but then putting that with dark music, you get this sinister sort of vibe.
"A big reference for me was David Lynch's 'Lost Highway'. There's a scene where the main character, a saxophonist, loses his mind onstage, and does this solo. The rest of the band stops and he just keeps going at this intense level. I really loved that.
"'Spiral Up' is one of my mental health songs. During the lockdown isolation of 2020, I unwittingly wrote a handful of soundtracks to try to console myself. I didn't understand that's what those pieces were about until later.
"That's why a picture of my house is on the front cover, my picturesque prison. 'Spiral Up' is about mental health, mood swings, being up, being down."
During the pandemic, Lees took comfort in the constancy of his natural surroundings. The art borne out of this period of isolation had unexpected fruit.
"I live in a very natural environment. Nine years ago, I had my tree change. The natural environment of the forest and everything up here is really old.
"It's perspective – there's a pandemic, or a project that's stressful, or your gig's about to happen – the forest doesn't care. It's been here for millennia before, and it will remain after I go. That's a healthy perspective to add in.
"This amazing thing happened when we started playing live last year, the connection that the music achieved with the audience. People said 'that song meant this' or 'I found that song emotional because of this'.
"Suddenly this thing that was created because of total disconnection was creating connection. That was a revelation and vindication for me. It is working in some alchemic, mysterious way, and it has meaning."
Life has always carved an intentional path for James, through a childhood surrounded by music and arts into the rapidly developing music scene of 1990s Brisbane, it wove for him the palette he now draws from to create and thus connect with his audience.
"I grew up in Warwick, an only child, in a house full of books, art and music. My mother was a teacher and my father was a rock & roll drummer. There were parties, and LPs' this is the '70s and '80s, so all the ones you would imagine constantly being played.
"Bit of an open house policy, my parents' friends were teachers, actors, musicians, writers, lots of interesting people. So I was predestined to have a musical life.
"I started learning music at eight, several years of classical clarinet. Apologies to the clarinet. My musical awakening happened at 11, when I started playing drums off my own bat. "My father pounced on it and taught me, so I learnt classical percussion, piano and a motley collection of musical training I mushed together. Everything on 'Countdown'.
"We moved to the Sunshine Coast, and in the '80s, you had two options there – work the family business or get the hell out. I was studying film at Queensland College of Art, and everything happened immediately. I got into the band scene, the art scene and it all skyrocketed for me. It has never stopped.
"Looking back, I feel really thankful. It was right on the end of the conservative government leaving, and right at the beginning of the 1990s Brisbane awakening.
"We were very conscious that it was time for this city to do something. There was a cohort of people who really went for it. 'We wanna do this thing, no one's doing that. How do we do that? Let's do it ourselves.' The Zoo is a good example. The women, Joc and C, who started The Zoo, went, 'we want this kind of place in Brisbane. There's nothing here, let's do it.' That was 1992. It's a legend now.
"It also felt very unregulated as well. Now it sounds really hard. It was still a little bit Wild West, punk rock back then, you would just go for it, and if you did something wrong, apologise later.
"I've carried that on to my adult life as well. I don't know any other way, my background is totally DIY, not commercialised, not capitalised. It's the only way I know how to be an artist, or a musician or put stuff out there and express myself.
"You don't realise that when you're younger, you're just doing it. Now I've worked it out, but it took awhile. Typical drummer I guess."
Ghostwoods launches 'Stars' at It's Still A Secret (Brisbane) on 7 December, joined by Noir Et Blanc who launch their sophomore album 'Rouge'.
