The art of finger-clicking

Questions: What do you get when you take a songwriter from Queensland, transport her to Gippsland, put her in an old bakery-turned-recording-studio with one of Australia's most talented producers and let ten days pass?
Answer: An album called 'Arva'.

Some of you may be familiar with the name J. Walker. He's the frontman of the band Machine Translations and in the Winter of 2012 I went down to Victoria to record my sophomore album with him.



Our first recording session took place in an old town hall in Gippsland on a rather grey and cold day. As J. Walker set up his equipment in the kitchenette, it was my job to make a sound barrier-thingy out of two stacks of chairs and a doona drapped over a broom handle. I then sat down, with two heaters on either side of me, and began to sing. 

It's hard to describe the feeling of singing in an old wooden hall ... there's something magical that takes place. It felt like my voice was 100x larger and fuller and fatter (in the nicest of ways).




J. Walker seemed happy with what we achieved, particular the sound of the recordings - thanks to the beautiful acoustics inside the hall. He said he was glad to have tested the space out, as he had an album he was going to be recording for 'a guy' in a few weeks and he'd wanted to make sure the hall was the best option.

Little did I know that a month later J. Walker would be recording Paul Kelly's 'Spring and Fall' album in the very hall I'd sat and sang in a few weeks earlier. 

We spent the rest of our ten days together working on overdubs in J. Walker's studio...which is situated in an old bakery.



This is Gladys - one of many instruments that J. Walker played on my album. He also played banjo, guitar, vibraphone, piano accordion, violin, double bass, cello and percussion. Talented much?



This youtube clip gives you some idea of the genius that is J. Walker. I learnt a hell of a lot from the man during our ten days together - in particular, how to click my fingers!



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