THE BEST IS YET TO COME
career to the next level – the question of whether this commercial opportunity could threaten her creative singularity was one worth asking.
When a unique young talent wins an enviable music prize and clinches a top label deal as a result, does the commercial glare fade the artist’s individual flare? Nikki Thorburn, aka Iluka, reveals the truth to Carley Hall.
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here’s definitely something to be said for the conviction of youth. Since farewelling the comforts of high school, hardworking 22-year-old Nikki Thorburn, aka indie chanteuse Iluka, has taken her soulful, yesteryear sound from her Sydney home and shared it, recording it with primo industry names along
the way. Her bohemian style is a throwback to her childhood diet of 1960’s and ‘70’s pop and rock courtesy of her guitar-maker father, and her mythical lyrics offer an insight into her vivid personality. So when Commercial Radio Australia and the Mushroom Group announced Iluka as the inaugural winner of their First Break competition back in 2012 – gifting the emerging young artist the seemingly ideal platform to catapult her
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“When the whole First Break thing happened, I mean I was always essentially doing the same thing and I’m still doing what I was doing,” Thorburn reasons. “I’m still writing songs that I want to write, and I’m still following the vision that I want to follow. It’s just now I have an amazing support network around me, which I guess is, as an artist, what you dream of; there’s only so much that you can do by yourself.” While the prize indeed had its fair share of bonuses – single releases, music videos, promotion, tour support – it’s clear Thorburn’s stamp is all over her musical project, just as she says. Her first single, 12th Of July, is as effervescent as her prior indie releases, and those comparisons to Edith Piaf, Nancy Sinatra and Dusty Springfield are still flying thick and fast, not that she minds. “It’s funny actually; they’re quite diverse!” she laughs. “Yesterday one of the guys who interviewed me said I remind me him of Janis Joplin, which I haven’t got before but she’s a huge influence of mine. And there has been Stevie Nicks with her voice. “I think the nature of humans is to compare or draw some sort of parallel to familiarise a sound with someone else. It doesn’t bother me. I guess it more bothers me when people think you’re trying to be someone or replicate some sort of sound.” WHEN & WHERE: 1 May, Dowse Bar; 2 May, The Loft, Gold Coast
ALL OF THE LIGHTS
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Inspired by two of the world’s great cities, Michelle Xen & The Neon Wild have delivered an EP that’s a feast for the ears and eyes, writes Benny Doyle.
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n For You, the ambitious latest EP from electro-pop visionary Michelle Xen, came to fruition following visits to Berlin and New York in 2012. It was here that she romanced the creative opportunities associated with the two cities, surrounding herself with kindred spirits. “In New York I never felt like I had to apologise for the full extent of my creative ambitions and in Berlin I was completely submerged in a world of artists doing multiple things,” she fondly recalls. “It was like dating two cities; I wanted to know who I might end up with.” Both stints encouraged the Brisbane performer to move further towards interdisciplinary art, the results seeing the five tracks of On For You each coupled with an accompanying video. Yes, it’s an epic workload – Xen admits she had to convince a few people around her to tackle it – but given the chance she’d do it all over again. “I write music to perform live, which is also inherently visual,” she explains. “I am essentially aiming to create layers of intensity in the live show both aurally and visually. In terms of production, I try to balance the AV elements; for instance after all these music videos I am buried in creating a new body of music for the next EP. It is challenging but the productive energy of working on audio and visual elements together feels
like a natural state. I keep calling On For You an AVEP [Audio Visual Extended Play], but people look at me blankly! ‘Tis the future though...” Fronting her band The Neon Wild, Xen is set to flesh out the full EP for us, tying in with the release of her fourth single from the record, Electro Comb. Built on a circular motion of both sampled drums and synth, the track swirls around your ears. Xen calls it “a weird experiment of a song” that also stands as a reaction to the world weighing on your shoulders. “I imagined a kid trying to pull through difficult
things, so instead of closing down and shutting things out, you open up and go into the world. Comb your hair and hit the streets with music in your ears. So the Electro Comb is the tool for hard times. There is a thread of finding light in the dark through all the songs on the EP, though this song is the weirdest incarnation.” And in bringing this and the rest of her canon together, Xen and her Neon Wild cohorts are excited to spread the crazy joy they share with punters far and wide. “We are always there to play hard and seek out that blistering goodness of getting people dancing or shifting people’s heads away from the everyday world for a little while,” she enthuses. “And I am sewing a few new pieces to wear as always; I live for that live show.” WHAT: On For You (Paper Street Co.) WHEN & WHERE: 26 Apr, New Globe Theatre THE MUSIC • 23RD APRIL 2014 • 23