B
ernardfanningiskeentogo
back on tour. The former Powder-
fingerfrontmanonlybrieflyhitthe
roadafterreleasinghisthirdsoloalbum
Civil Dusklast August, preferring to con-
tinueworkonthatrecord’ssuccessor,the
newly issuedBru-
tal Dawn.Nowthat
he has both albums
done, he wants to
present them to fans
–nottomentionthat
touring allows him
to catch up on his fa-
vourite television se-
ries, the Cold War es-
pionage dramaThe
Americans.
“Thatshowis
brutal, and it’s fas-
cinating to see how
the inner machi-
nations of the Rus-
sian side works,” says
Fanning. “Plus, you
know, it’s suddenly
a lot more relevant
these days.”
Cut at Fanning
and producer Nick
DiDia’s La Cueva
Recording studio in
Byron Bay,Brutal
Dawncarries over
the evocative acous-
tictexturesand
warm 1970s melo-
dies ofCivil Dusk.
The two albums are
unmistakably twinned in execution and
theme, and Fanning sees them as equals
that followed one another, as opposed to
beingaseparateddoublealbumorBrutal
Dawnbeing the offcuts fromCivil Dusk.
“They’re definitely two different records,
but it felt like one big long session,” Fan-
ning explains. “We finishedCivil Duskat
Easterlastyearandwhilewedidn’tdoalot
ofrecordingbeforeitcameoutinAugust,
Iwaswritingstuffallthetime.Itneverfelt
like that album was finished and this new
onewasbeginning.Inalotofwaysitwas
partofthesamethings.”
Thedistinction,hebelieves,isinhislyr-
ics.Civil Duskwas an album that lookedback on past personal decisions, pars-
ing how they were made and pondering
their ramifications.Brutal Dawn,which
isn’t always autobiographical, looks at
those same decisions in terms of the con-
sequences that stem from them and how
they can reshape
your current life.
Both are unusually
short of judgments,
instead weighing up
both sides of trou-
bled times.
“The more you re-
flect on stuff the less
blackandwhitethe
world is and you
canhaveamore
balanced perspec-
tive and see merit in
what you don’t agree
with,” says Fanning,
“On [2013’s]Depar-
turesIdidn’twant
to engage in soul-
searching. I wanted
to make music that
wasabitmorefun.
But I found that to
be nowhere as sat-
isfyingaswhatI’d
previously done, so
Iwentbacktothe
style of writing that
satisfied me emo-
tionally.”
Concurrently the
47-year-old and his
Spanish-born wife,
Andrea Moreno, relocated with their two
children from Madrid to Byron Bay, en-
joying the small town vibe even as Fan-
ning, a devout devourer of the serious
news media, looks askance at the world’s
current state.
“There’s a lot of comeuppance in Aus-
traliansocietybecausepeoplefailedto
hold our leaders to account for a long time,
startingwiththemediaandendingwith
theelectorate.Andthat’shappeningall
over the western world,” he notes. “I’m
turning the newspaper pages and going,
‘Fuck!’ But at the same time I’m also think-
ing, ‘Not that huge a surprise’.”
CRAIG MATHIESON[Cont. from 13]
ALT-J
Over a billion music
streamslater,GusUnger-Hamilton
admitsitwasalotforthegrouptotake
in. “It didn’t end well, really,” the key-
boardist and vocalist says. “I don’t
know how you’re supposed to take that
kind of thing. If you’re not equipped...
some people are, some people aren’t.”
Morethanayearofglobaltour-
ing left the trio in need of some time
off, Unger-Hamilton grounding him-
self by working as a chef for three
daysaweekinarestaurantheopened
(“IcameupwithasortofItalian-
style steak with cauliflower and tahini
crumb, which I was very proud of,” he
smiles). Lead singer and guitarist Joe
Newmanalsochippedinbywashing
dishesathisfriend’sestablishment(“I
diditonthreeseparateoccasionsfor
wholeafternoons–itwasjustmeand
two Aussies in there, doing the wash-
ingup,”hesays),buthisdowntime
was largely spent writing songs for alt-
J’s third album,Relaxer.“Iwaswork-
ingoutthesongsinmyhead,writing
enough to take to the band,” he offers.
Recorded from November 2016 to
Januarythisyear,Relaxersprang from
alargestockpileofNewman’sideas.“If
Ipickupaguitarandsomethingmoves
me,IneedtorecorditbecauseIknow
it’llbesomethingthatIreturntowhen
we start looking at the fourth album,”
hesays.“Wehadtounpackalotofma-
terialthathadbeenhangingaround
forages.Weplanahead–wedon’tjust
turnup,lookateachotherandsay,
‘What ideas have you got?’”
The album came to fruition thanks
to the band’s no-pressure approach to
recording.“Wehadourownplacethat
wehad24-houraccessto–wedidn’t
want to go down the route of being in
astudiowhereyoupaybythehourand
it’slike,‘Ohfuck,we’vegottocomeup
withthegoodsrightnow’,”saysUng-
er-Hamilton. “It was chilled, and that’s
howweliketowork.”
Produced by Charlie Andrew,Re-
laxerseesthebandrevellinginanew-
found confidence. “We’ve caught up
to[thesuccess],Ithink,”saysdrum-
merThomGreen.“That’swhywetook
time off, because we needed to com-
pute everything.”
Having released his own solo album
during alt-J’s downtime, Green is en-
thusiastic about his band’s latest work.
“I’m excited because I don’t know any-
thinglikeit,”hesays.“Ofallthemusic
Ilistento,ithasitsownplace.It’seasy
to forget that because we’ve made it,
butit’saweirdalbum.I’mreallyproud
of it.”
Bernard Fanning’s
Double Header
Singer-songwriter releases second album
in nine months, ‘Brutal Dawn’“Itneverfeltlike‘Civil
Dusk’ was finished and
this new one was
beginning,” says Fanning.FanningR&R
12 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com July, 2017