A country farm girl at heart who's as comfortable driving tractors as she is pondering life through song, Pepper Jane is a songwriter whose thoughtful compositions challenge everyday perspectives.
A love for singing from a young age – at church as well as in school choirs and musicals – has evolved into a fully-fledged life as an independent musician, with Pepper opening shows for Aussie legends in rock (Tex Perkins, Russell Morris), soul (Renée Geyer, Deni Hines) and folk (Darren Hanlon).With a tenderness and honesty to her songwriting, Pepper challenged herself to venture into the blues by writing a project album in 2021.
The resulting six-track EP was recorded in two days – the title track of which is dedicated to a mate's dog Slim – and called 'Low Down Brown Dog Blues'. The EP will be streaming sometime in 2023.
'Came Here To Be Lonely' will feature on that EP. Starkly raw, bruised rootsy vocals are overlapped with gentle, finger-plucked guitar and rolling, shimmery drumlines that evoke the soulful spirit of whiskey-soaked blues.
"'Came Here To Be Lonely' is almost a love letter to social distancing, which it turns out, is kind of a good description of how I would prefer socialising to be anyway. . . or 'going to a public place'.
"The actual scenario in the song is about being in busy places, and enjoying being alone but amongst the other people gathering to have the same experience – watching a concert, sports game or conference – but enjoying it alone, simultaneously."
Ahead of the song's music video release tomorrow (2 June), scenestr is thrilled to premiere the 'Came Here To Be Lonely' clip today. Enjoy.
"People seem confused to see lone diners, or movie goers, or people alone at a concert, and want to ask them if they're happy alone," adds Pepper. "Yes! Yes I am.
"I understand that humans are built for community, and that's useful and comfortable for me during some times of need, and 'it takes a village to raise a child' and all that, and have the diversity of life fabric to observe as you weave your own little life – but I'm a farm girl who spent most of my childhood (ten years) as an only child, talking to the farm animals.
"My extra-curricular activities were all solo pursuits (violin, piano, jazz, ballet, tap dancing) until choir and orchestra, which are still kind of each person doing their own thing just in a way that works with others.
"In retrospect, team sports would have been a great idea for my social development. But as it stands, I'm happy to just be a part of things while still having loads of my own space. So I'll keep showing up to things, hoping to stay lonely."
The recording of the 'Low Down Brown Dog Blues' EP presented Pepper with its own obstacles that she relished overcoming.
"The recording was fascinating. So I'd challenged myself to write and record a six-track blues EP in two weeks for a special show I was invited to be a part of, and we had one day in the studio with the band to record these brand new songs live – aaand the bass player had a lunch time gig in the middle of it!
"So after setting up, and the extended lunch break where I had a go at recording a few jazz tracks which may or may not ever see the light of day, we recorded the 6 songs in about 2.5 hours.
"Really, the result Steve at The Barn Recording Studio was able to achieve (and on analogue tape!) was pretty miraculous (bass player's words: Troy Troutman).
"We did re-record the last track on the album as an acoustic version instead (with Troy playing acoustic guitar), for a bit more diversity on the EP, so technically we have to say it was recorded over two days, but that doesn't really express the hecticness ness of it, haha."
Pepper Jane 2023 Tour Dates
Sat 10 Jun - ValleyFest (Gatton)Sat 17 Jun - Festive Footpath @ YMCA (Mango Hill)
