Andrew Morris

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Bio

To the discerning listener from Andrew Morris:

Welcome to my new album ‘Shadow of a Shadow’. The album has taken me a little over a year to put together, given birth with the working title of ‘Mountain Songs’. This title was relevant as I was living up in Mount Nebo, a small village perched atop of Brisbane’s North Western edge. With views from my cottage over Moreton Bay and the canopies of trees below, I set out to make a stripped back folk record, inspired, dare I say by a ‘mountain muse’. It didn’t take me long however to scrap any preconception of an album theme, and I went to work with the bare guide of ‘whatever works best’; the best song stays. A collection of around twenty songs was whittled down to the final thirteen you hear here. Most were written post-Needs & Wants, although two tracks (‘Exils’ and ‘Mother/Brother’) were salvaged from the piano writing sessions of that album. Being alone in the mountains allowed me plenty of time to mull over the themes and subjects of the songs. I’ll leave the interpretation up to your discretion – needless to say a good deal of introspection and navel gazing went on up on that mountain!

So for the actual recording process: Over the last two years I’d managed to scrape together a decent home studio set up, so decided that was the best way to record in the comfort of my own home, with only the trees to bear witness. Sure this album could have been recorded in a slick studio but I decided to do it at home with the King Parrots, and to be honest that’s the way I like it. Too often a magic demo take goes astray and with this method I was able to keep the nuggets in the sieve.

The temptation to record all parts myself in a true megalomaniac style was overridden mainly by the aim to make the album vary in sound, not just one guy in a room hogging all the ideas. And there were too many talented friends I could entice up to the hilltop with the promise of a bowl of minestrone soup or a slow cooked lamb shank. These friends made invaluable additions to the album, and every guest’s performance was exactly what I envisaged. Don’t you just love it when things work? So some of the contributors on ‘Shadow of a Shadow’ are some names you may know, some you may not, but all equally talented. My string band buddies The Wilson Pickers are on there, Brisbane ratbags The Gin Club, Bernard Fanning, Tim Rogers, Clare Bowditch, Washington, and Drew Wooton from the Panics to name a few. The album was mixed in Melbourne by Roger Bergodaz to add some ‘pro’ to my amateur recording, with me barking orders from the studio couch.

I believe Shadow of Shadow is a distillation of all my solo work so far – even though it abandons the idea of a concept, by way of virtue I think it is the most cohesive collection of songs I have put together. I’ve always considered myself a late bloomer, so maybe all these years practicing my craft and learning from people, peers and all that goes on around me has paid off. I still hope to make the Australian test cricket team too being a late bloomer and all! Anyway, I hope you enjoy listening to this album, I certainly enjoyed making it.

Sincerely,
Andrew Morris.

‘Shadow of a Shadow’ is out OCT 1 on ABC/Universal