Far in the North West of Australia is a place where there are neither frosts nor droughts. A place where there are only two seasons; a season of endless blue skies, and a season when the thick clouds roll in and wash the red dust from the land.  Luscious fruit trees lined in rows smell sweetly as the new seasons mangoes begin to form on their branches.  The heat of the day slowly subsides as the cool breeze drifts in, carrying with it the low rhythmic drone of the cicada. When the last light of the day fades, a spectacular orange glow accentuates the dramatic geometric shapes that rise above the endless horizon. If you look closely there is a softness and fragility to this rugged landscape. Tiny native flowers are simple in delicate shades of pink and yellow, and white gum and boab trees appear sparsely scattered across the otherwise bare powdery red earth.

I spent my childhood by the banks of the Ord River in Kununurra, amongst this natural wonder. Here I began writing songs from an early age. My early efforts were not the contemporary pop/folk songs that I write today, more epic folk concertos, tales of lost wilderness creatures or a monologue from the sun’s perspective.

I am very much a songwriter who writes from personal experience and feel that the presentation of my songs through performance and on record is a gentle yet powerful way to communicate my views and values with people.  Like Joni Mitchell, I am a firm believer in the necessity of a beautiful melody to carry a message to an audience.   The two songs I have chosen to release for this first single have a very strong link to my experiences in the Kimberley but also address the difficulties one faces on a personal level regardless of where they are from.

I Take The Blame is a song about recognising that your actions may have hurt or changed someone, and that you can be sorry for their pain or sadness without feeling regret for your actions.  I think everyone at some point in their life has to make a hard decision.  Choosing the right path may not necessarily be the easy path and you definitely won’t please everyone with your choice, but hopefully you will become who you need to be. 

Taking Back Her Name is based on the true story of my parents’ separation.  Growing up on a farm gives you an incredible understanding of the nature of hard work and the impact it can have on your relationships.  When my parents had to give up our plantation, due to a severe storm that destroyed our crop, they realised that farming was the one and only thing they had in common.  Separation of a long-standing relationship is not a rare thing today but when I experienced it firsthand, through my parents, it gave me a whole new perspective. It was most important to me to write this song in a way that truly represented both sides of the argument, to try to express how no-one was right or wrong.  It was just sad.  

I hope these songs are an engaging introduction to my music, and a good taster of the work I have been doing with producers J. Walker and Wally De Backer over the last 12 months.  I’m trying not to confine myself to a specific style or genre on my album, and I hope these tracks hint at the way I’m trying to bridge between a few different musical directions.  I am still discovering new ways to write songs and present my music, in live performance and on record, and I feel that the diversity in these recordings is reflective of my last few years’ experience.  Despite this diversity, I hope my connection to the Kimberley, and how it has shaped me as a musician and songwriter, shines through.  There’s still a whole lot of red dirt running through these veins.

Tash

Tash Parker – Kimberley Songstress

Tash Parker is a young musician originally from the remote town of Kununurra in the North East Kimberley area of Western Australia. In 2007 Tash relocated to Melbourne to pursue her music career and she is now based in a small beach side community on the Mornington Peninsula.

Tash has been writing, playing and performing her original songs since she first picked up an acoustic guitar in 2002. Although many of her songs have a folk/pop element Tash is constantly challenging the boundaries of contemporary folk and pop music and this is demonstrated in her more recent recordings. From the bluesy “Baby All The Time”, to the vocally dynamic “The Mourning”, to the gentle whisper of “When it Rains” she weaves her thoughtful lyrics through unexpected melodic progressions that captivate on first listen.

Her major musical influences include Joni Mitchell and Suzane Vega, while more recently Feist, Holly Throsby and Emiliana Torini have inspired. Despite this, Tash has a style entirely distinct from these established artists; a sound not limited by the boundary of one specific genre of music. There are elements of jazz, folk and pop in Tash’s songs, but they are merely signposts on a tour into a special musical territory she defines as she goes

The 24-year-old singer-songwriter began recording her debut album midway through last year, collaborating with Melbourne based producers J.Walker from Machine Translations and Wally De Backer from Gotye.

She released her first single in October 2009 and is close to selling out of the first pressing of 500 copies. Tash plans to release a second single in late March and  is hoping to complete her debut album, for public release in May 2010.

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