A self-taught multi-instrumentalist who's also a tram driver by day, Melbourne musician-storyteller Jim Nightshade is set to drop his second studio album, titled 'The Lightning Rod Salesman' – a record he played the majority of instruments on.
An album that traverses warped alt country, and whiskey-infused country rock, to folk-noir speckled bluesy rock, Jim recorded the album in different rooms in his 1930s weatherboard house onto a combination of analogue and digital mediums."'The Lightning Rod Salesman' is a gathering of diverse songs designed and stitched together to create an odd-fitting suit," Jim shares about the album that has themes of romanticism and escapism as its common focus.
"One you could wear to a wedding, a funeral and a town hall meeting in Perdition all in the same weekend."
With the record scheduled for release on Friday (17 September), scenestr is stoked to premiere 'The Lightning Rod Salesman' today. Enjoy.
"'The Lightning Rod Salesman' is a cautionary tale whispered into the ear of someone who craves pandemonium," adds Jim, who imagines this album as an extended universe to the 1962 dark fantasy novel 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' by Ray Bradbury.
"A collection of love letters lost in a drawer in a burning, abandoned house. An attempt to capture lightning in a half empty bottle of whiskey. A half remembered dream."
The record's lead single, 'Love Someone', features a 100-year-old piano gift to Jim by his grandparents when he was just 10 years old. Other highlight tracks include 'Bats In The Belfry', 'The Ballad Of Tom Fury', 'Rather Be' and the album's title track.
