Tai Carpenter - Compose Yourself Magazine
The first thing I notice are their accents. "We're from Australia," says Timothy Maybury, who usually plays guitar in the band (I'll explain later). "It makes us sound distinguished." Within five minutes of meeting them, Halo and I are already smitten. Being new to SXSW, Tanya Horo, the lead vocalist and keyboardist, tells me she hopes they'll be on the roster for the festival again next year. It seems like they're enjoying themselves in the US. So much in fact, that they all decided to relocate from Australia and settle into New York just recently.
They've spent the last 8 months recording new material and embarking on a US tour. When I ask the bassist, Liam Flanagan, to describe their sound, he laughs and points at Timothy. He manages to tell me to "ask the articulate one," while pausing between belly-aching laughs. Tim settles into the role, and turns to me. "It's a bit like pop music that's based on texture and ambience... Sort of like dream pop." The whole band kind of smiles at that and nods in agreeance. The entire time I spend speaking with them, I find myself naturally loosening up; a lot. Sherlock's Daughter makes you want to take your guard down, find a nearby hammock and cloud watch for days on end. With their EP Songs for Old People selling on iTunes, it's evident that America is glad to call Sherlock's Daughter their own, at least to some extent.
Jonti Danilewitz, who plays keys along with guitar, and William Russell, man behind the drumkit, also have a side synth/pop band, called Danimals. After winning a contest, the band was sent to New York to work with world famous producer Mark Ronson and have been keeping busy playing shows and turning out new songs.
When Halo asks everyone's positions in the group, we learn that they're always subject to change. "We like to switch around a bit, although we all have our main roles in the band," Tim explains. "Every once in a while we'll change who plays percussion, and we like to throw in cockenspiels and ukeles... We just get bored I think." Tanya smiles, adding "We all like to sing a bit too..." She then leans towards me to go around Timothy, allowing her to point a finger at Jonti. "Jonti actually likes to play guitar a lot as well, and I play keys... He and I fight all the time as to who gets to play." On hearing this, Jonti begins to object but just looks the other way when Tanya interrupts him: "Hey, it's true!"
While taking a break from the interview, I sit down next to William while Halo chats with the rest of the band. Will and I both absent minded, start digging in the dirt under our shoes. I soon give up on the hunt, failing to find any cool rocks or beer tabs to throw. About 30 minutes later, after our interview has been conducted and we are all ordering food at Moonshine Bar & Grill, I see William sitting one chair away from me next to Timothy, rolling a rock over in his hand. I tap him to see what the rock looked like, and we both gazed at the gold flakes that were in its side (at least that's what we thought they were). I tell William I want a picture of it and he proudly holds his hand out, angling the 'gold' towards the lens.
We spend the rest of the day eating a late lunch together, having drinks, and making music with our silverware and fancy glasses. When Halo and I leave, we give everyone little waves & say our goodbyes before heading out. Tim returns our waves smiling, and says "By the way, you guys are so cute!"
Words to end my day.