ARIA-nominated Danielle Caruana (aka Mama Kin) and indie-pop producer Tommy Spender, recently joined forces to create their debut album, 'Golden Magnetic', under their new Mama Kin Spender moniker.
“We met on an airplane, some 17 years ago,” Danielle says. “And we soon realised that [Tommy] had recently joined my brother's band. We've been friends ever since, and lived in share houses together.
“We've always kind of circled each other's creative projects and the timing was just right for us to finally jump in and do our own, little thing together. Long-time marinating but well worth it for the flavour.
“We got together in 2015 and decided we wanted to do this project together, but we lived on opposite sides of the country. We found this platform called I Heart Songwriting and over the course of ten weeks we were both members of this songwriting club where you get a word a week and you have an hour to write a song.
“Whatever you write in that hour you put on the platform and the ten people in the group critique your work. We ended up with 20 songs and plucked out the ones that we thought were cooking and put them back on the operating table.”
Tommy adds: “Sometimes the songs that are on the album were written in the same week to the same prompt. It's like one of those Rorschach inkblot tests; we both interpreted different musical ideas out of the same shape or idea. There's themes on the album that are to do with family, love, grief, passion or desire. Just life.
“I really love one of Danielle's songs called 'Carry Me'. The recording on the album is the most honest and raw; it was just one take of us playing the song from beginning to end and we didn’t really do any studio work,” Tommy says.
Danielle continues: “'In Between Us' is one of my favourites because it's such a pure co-write, where our writing and music sensibilities really mesh and merge. And 'Cold Rooftop' was one of the first songs we worked on together. There's a video of us from four or five years ago, singing it in a big room with a choir.”
Mama Kin Spender took this idea further. “We were always talking about doing a project together, and writing a body of work,” Danielle says.
“Then we were midway through doing the writing with the songwriting club, and I sent Tommy a video of Rufus Wainwright singing 'Hallelujah' with a choir in Canada. And we were both just weeping on the phone together.
“And we thought, 'let's just make this body of work and let's embellish the sound with really strong backing voices. And then let's just travel around the country and the world and pick up choirs as we go.'
“We still play as a duo sometimes, we've just been doing the latest John Butler Trio shows, back as a duo with Tommy on electric guitar, me on drums and both of us singing. But wherever possible we pick up a choir and we go all in and have this intensive rehearsal and we get to sing with the voices of a flame.”
'Golden Magnetic' is available now.
Mama Kin Spender Tour Dates
Thu 3 May - Howler (Melbourne)5-6 May - The Planting Festival (Sunshine Coast)
Thu 9 May - Civic Hall (Mullumbimby)
Fri 10 May - The Foundry (Brisbane)
12-13 May - Gascoyne River Music Festival (WA)
Mon 4 Jun - SOTA Festival (Perth)
Fri 28 Sep - Caloundra Music Festival
