Press
Rip It Up Magazine
4/12/08
THE SHIPWRECKED
Issue 1003
The Shipwrecked (Tumnus Records)
Rummaging around in my bag of adjectives for a clever sounding way to describe the work of Sydney four-piece The Shipwrecked, the usual range of genre descriptions don't quite make the nut. Okay, so the group tick all the obvious boxes: folk? Check. Indie? Check. Rock? Check. Pop? Well, sure, check. There's even a healthy dose of country twang. But there's something else going on here, too, something that gives proceedings an almost familiar air of pomp and grandeur. It's not so heavy-handed as to be completely obvious and slides casually into this modern blending of genres. It's the dramatic surge of the anthem.
Take the stomping country swagger of Battlelines. With this impressive opener, The Shipwrecked signal their intentions early with a rousing old-fashioned country rocker. Now add to this the spellbinding anthemic swell of The Unsung. This tune sails a rising tide of acoustic guitars and drums to a chorus crescendo of vocal harmonies that crash over the listener with all the force and drama of, well, a shipwreck…
The rest of the album alternates carefully between emotions. The slower songs avoid descending all the way to melancholy, while the up-tempo tunes generally feel like a darn good time. With Damien Lane's slightly accented vocal style, it sounds a bit like the type of thing Britpop might have got around to if it hadn't got so full of itself.
An inspired piece of genre blending that produces a very compelling whole.
Troy Foster
The Beast
September 2008
A STORMY, TEMPESTUOUS AND MELANCHOLIC AFFAIR
The Shipwrecked are a Sydney based four-piece comprising singer/guitarist Damien Lane, singer/pianist Nicole Smede, drummer Darren Ireland and Ryan Kalkman on bass.
With shimmering interweaving guitars underpinned by piano, bass and emotive drumming, their music has a cinematic scope, above which floats the haunting harmonies of the vocalists.
Nicole studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and has recorded and performed with Melbourne's Plastic Palace Alice. Darren and Damien hail from shoegazer/noise merchants Dropping Honey. Damien has also spent several years accompanying Sydney singer/songwriter Tim Ireland, both live (guitar/backing vocals) and on record as a multi-instrumentalist. He spent 2004/05 writing, recording and performing in London - an experience that was the catalyst for The Shipwrecked.
Available now, their eponymous debut album was recorded at Megaphon and mixed at the Sydney Opera House by Jason Blackwell (Clouds/Lovetones). For the full live taste in September though, you'll have to tear yourself away from The Beast territory - The Shipwrecked are playing The Excelsior in Surry Hills on September 20. But if you need to listen now, you can visit www.myspace.com/theshipwrecked.
I got a chance to catch up with The Shipwrecked's singer/guitarist Damien Lane during August to find out more about the group...
The Shipwrecked in a sentence is... A stormy, tempestuous and melancholy affair.
First memory of music... The Dr Who theme music.
First album you bought... 'Standing On A Beach' - The Cure.
Song that gives you goose bumps... 'Two-Step' - Low.
If you could pick a supergroup it's members would be... Liz Frazer (Cocteau Twins), Thom Yorke (Radiohead), Peter Hook (Joy Division/New Order) and Loz Colbert (Ride).
A Shipwrecked highlight... Getting our finished album in our hands from the manufacturers.
Sydney bands giving you the good tingles at the moment.... The Lovetones, Tinderbox.
Fave driving album/s while on the road... 'Loveless' - My Bloody Valentine.
Fave Sydney venue... Annandale Hotel.
Band or genre that give you an ice-cream headache.... Metal.
If you bowed to corporate sponsorship it would be to advertise... Energizer batteries. I think I'm in love.
Your dream bill for a night (you included of course)... Radiohead, The Smiths, The Cure.
An unknown Shipwrecked fact... Our female vocalist Nicole Smede is actually a classically trained singer and graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
What next for The Shipwrecked... Australian East Coast tour in promotion of our debut album, launch of 'The Unsung' EP in Sydney in October, and we start recording album number two in November.
- Bill Bones
Illawarra Mercury
24/7/08
MOVING ON AND UP
Barely a month after their debut album was officially released, The Shipwrecked are looking to the future and their second stint in the recording studio.
The Sydney-based group will officially launch their self-titled album at the UniBar later this month, but frontman Damien Lane is already keen to move onto other projects.
"I'm pretty happy with it at the moment," he says.
"It's quite an exciting time for us as we're beginning to work on the second one. I do feel like we need to move on now."
Part of the desire to return to the studio comes from the developing sound of The Shipwrecked and an official line-up change.
Lane, who fans will know from the band Dropping Honey, decided to explore a new musical direction and record an album after he had a musical epiphany while living in the United Kingdom.
"I started a band over there and that made me realise what I had back at home in terms of resources and the people I knew and wanted to work with," he says.
"That made me realise I wanted to try it all again and do it in a different way. I guess it's the old thing of getting perspective. I felt like I had done all the hard yards with other bands. This is a much more enjoyable thing."
Lane wrote the songs for The Shipwrecked's debut album and, after returning to Australia, joined creative forces with singer/pianist Nicole Smede and former Dropping Honey band mate, Darren Ireland. The band's line-up has been expanded to include bass player Ryan Kalkman.
Now, after the recording was completed last year, Lane says he is enjoying working with his fellow band members and exploring new music.
As the group's sound continues to develop, Lane says he would disagree with any fans who say the current music is a stark contrast to that of his Dropping Honey days.
"It is developing and you can see it in our live shows and we can see it on the album. I don't want to do the same thing on the next album," Lane says.
"Some people think it's easy to categorise the old band as loud and this one as more quiet. But not to me. This is more versatile and dynamic."
However, Lane's return to the studio is dependent on his writing and the time The Shipwrecked spends on the road.
Lane says he does in enjoy the process of packing up his bags and hitting the touring circuit. "I love touring. I think it's exciting and it's really good, particularly if you have a good group of friends," he says.
"Some of my most cherished memories... are with friends on the road."
- Kilmeny Adie.
Drum Media
3/6/08
KNOW WHAT YOU WANT
IT'S BEEN SMOOTH SAILING FOR THE SHIPWRECKED THUS FAR, SINGER/GUITARIST DAMIEN LANE TELLS BROOKE SALISBURY.
"It had never occurred to me to make soft music," explains Damien Lane from the helm of The Shipwrecked. Fans of his disbanded group Dropping Honey will believe him, for a band that thrived in abrasive guitar and a procession of drums doesn't often sit down to ponder the art of acoustics. Though when the band had run its course, it opened doors for the musician, whose recent travels had his mind wandering. "Living in London was an eye opening experience for me. While I was away I started toiling with all of these soft and loud sounds; I recorded an album's worth of music that captured where I was at the time and I loved it." In an artist's worst nightmare, though, Lane's hard drive was broken on his journey home, leading him back to square one with the mental markings of a promising project.
Hence he began tracking down the things and people he needed to make it happen, including the lusty vocals of Nicole Smede. "I'd heard off everyone I knew that Nicole had this astonishing voice, so the night I was introduced to her I asked her to collaborate with me, before I'd even heard her sing," Lane laughs. "Luckily they were right; I've no regrets."
With Darren Ireland's percussive contribution and Ryan Kalkman on bass the band began jamming, which soon lead to writing and spun quickly into recording. "It does feel like it's all happened very quickly. We've had the luxury of skipping that stage of aimless gigging. We knew what we wanted straight away, we went in and made the album and it's come out beautifully." Smede's hisory lies with plastic Palace Alice, lending a pop sensibility to the group, while Lane's respective rock'n'roll roots brought a diverse approach to recording the album. Where his prior project thrived in noise rock, he sought a softly softly album, able to drift between quiet/luod contrasts and detailed layers. The result? An album of grandiose romantic pop, with each song laced with interweaving guitars and the simmering vocals of Smede and Lane. It's a little haunting and completely intoxicating, as if they've been at it for years.
"It feels like it keeps on growing," Lane says of the band and their plans. And it's been a lot of imagining that's allowed them to better their sound. "Next, we're looking at adding another guitar player, purely for the live act. Imagine the sound we could get if we had that extra guitar?"
WHO: The Shipwrecked
WHAT: The Shipwrecked (Tumnus Records)
WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 5 June, The Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills