JOSH PYKE

JOSH PYKE

Josh Pyke is a songwriter cast in the conventional mould. He has managed to produce three albums that contain the same type of sound and all three have been successful. His fourth, The Beginning and the End of Everything produced by John Castle, is still heavy with the conventional Josh Pyke style, but there is a new sound emerging as well.

“John definitely brought his esthetic to all the tracks,” says Pyke, “but we were definitely working together. I reckon John pushed me in a different direction on songs like Feet of Clay, which is a bit more poppy than what I would have done if I was just doing it by myself.

“That’s the good thing about working with a producer you trust, there’s a lot of push and pull and you draw things out of each other that you wouldn’t get if you were doing it by yourself.”

There is a more organic element to this album too. The opening track, Bug Eyed Beauty has an outdoor kind of feeling. “I don’t know how to describe it. I was just following my instincts at the time. I had literally just bought a twelve string guitar when I wrote that song. I was just kind of mucking around and experimenting with it and I just came up with the song and recorded it straight away. Then I just kept on mucking around with the harmonies. It’s a pretty instinctive thing,” explains Pyke.

“I always write from experience and from my own life, that’s the main influence, but I’ll often go to an art gallery and see some painting that’ll trigger something. Books are a good source of inspiration.”

Pyke continues, “I was reading an etymology book when I was writing this record and there was a couple of things that popped up. Anything can be a source of inspiration, you’ve just gotta find the time to jot it down and find the time to turn it into something.” (LC)

Aug 23, Enmore Theatre, 118-132 Enmore Rd, Newtown, $45, (02) 9550 3666, enmoretheatre.com.au

BY LUKE COX

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