Tin Sparrow
Who would have guessed that an overdue University assignment, a common appreciation of Ennio Moriccone and a love of excessive television quotes would be the catalyst for one of Australia's most promising indie bands forming?
For Sydney four-piece Tin Sparrow, such unlikely circumstances have been identified as the key elements that lead to Matt Amery, Dean McLeod, Sonja Van Hummel and Mark Piccles getting together.
While Matt and Mark grew up playing in bands together during their formative years, it wasn't until Matt began studying music at Macquarie University (the same institution that birthed fellow alumni Boy and Bear and Art vs Science), that he met Dean and Sonja and Tin Sparrow was formed.
A few collaborative university assignments later and in July 2010, the four-piece found themselves recording at Dragon Fly Studios with producer Dann Hume (Evermore), emerging three days later with their debut EP 'From The Sun'. "From The Sun' is a mix of everything that was going on with us at the time. It's a wash of dry guitars, glocks, mandolins and huge harmonies," says frontman, Matt.
Lead single 'Fools Gold' is indie pop at its best. Think lilting guitars and sweet harmonies, married with lyrics based on a bogus contract Matt was given at the start of his career. "At the time I thought it was "gold", but after getting legal advice, it turned out it wasn't so crash hot."
Follow-up single 'For You' is a song Matt wrote as a gift for his girlfriend. "I didn't have enough money to buy her a present for her 21st birthday so I wrote a song for her instead. The song is about everything I was feeling at the time, one of my earlier attempts at writing a song for her."
Such harmony-driven tunes combined with an incendiary live show, have propelled Tin Sparrow into the spotlight over the last six months. 'From The Sun', received across the board accolades upon release, including a much-revered 'Unsigned Artist of The Week' nod from Sydney tastemakers FBi radio and strong support from national youth radio network Triple J.
The launch of 'From The Sun' sold out at the pre-sale stage, resulting in a flood of people haplessly trying to get into an at-capacity venue. From there they quickly secured slots on the Australian festival circuit and were recently invited to join fellow Aussie buzz-band Husky, on their national tour.
To record their second EP, Tin Sparrow ventured north to the tropical surrounds of Cairns, to work with Mark Myers from the recently disbanded The Middle East. "Hector Myola", the first single to be taken from this forthcoming EP (due for release in early 2012), continues along the spaghetti-Western path they successfully traversed with previous single "Fool's Gold."
"Hector Myola was written name first," explains Matt Amery. "I really like how it rolls of the tongue, it immediately takes you to a Mexican landscape, so it was a great start to the song."
The track opens with a sultry slide guitar and tremolo peels that wouldn't sound out of place on a track from The Band or on one of Neil Young's more countrified wanderings. The sparse instrumentation and rich harmonies enhance the inherent loneliness that has long been a staple of this style of music. It's sinewy and sinister and hints at a sense of foreboding that isn't implicitly spelled out by the lyrics.
This mindset shows the pace the band is moving at. With a second EP out in a few months, and a slew of festival slots and support shows filling the time between now and then, things are only going to keep hurtling along. One listen to the swaggering "Hector Myola" makes it clear that Tin Sparrow are more than mere Fool's Gold.
