Monique Brumby has achieved a lot in her career: she’s a two-time ARIA winner, played shows alongside the legendary Jeff Buckley and The Bangles and written a song with Paul Kelly. But despite all these successes she’s definitely not afraid to mix it up and try new things. The release this month of her 5th (and self-titled) album sees an addition of electronic sounds to her repertoire – something that her fans are embracing.
“I suppose you’re always worried when you put out a new release whether people will like it or not, but the response has been really good to this album,” says Brumby. “We’ve sort of fused in some electronic loops and beats with the music, and people seem to really respond to that, which has been really pleasing.
“That sound of the drums and the sounds of the production using synthesisers, I’ve always kind of liked that in music, but I’ve never really used it in my own music, which was kind of a weird thing.”
Along with her new sounds, Brumby also became a lot more involved in all the stages of the recording process, doing some engineering and producing on the album.
“This album has been very different for me because I did a lot of the engineering as well,” explains Brumby. “In many ways I think it makes it easier to capture a sound that you really want to hear in the music, but I think there needs to be a point of stepping away if you are producing and engineering your own work. I do think you need to have other very valued opinions and be able to step away from it sometimes and come back with fresh ears.”
Brumby also revealed her increased involvement in the recording process and producing a record that says exactly want she wanted were factors behind the album being self-titled.
“I spent a long time labouring over the mixing and the production, and this is probably the most me of any album I’ve released, hence the title,” says Brumby. “Everything from how my voice sits in the mix, the compressors I’ve used on the vocals, to how the drums are panned, to the EQ on the guitars, all of that stuff is very much hands-on in this album.
“But more than that, I think I’ve sort of reached a point now where this is an album saying the things I want to say with the sound that I want, and so that’s why it’s a self-titled album.”
Along with her album, Brumby also released a music video for the song ‘All the Way’, a very cool and slightly creepy clip filmed in her house.
“We had a house warming party and everyone that came didn’t know that I had this grand plan of shooting this video,” explains Brumby. “Basically I just set up my studio with a camera and they just had to press the space bar on the computer and the sound pumped out and I just said ‘do what you want for four minutes’ … The song’s a really up-tempo song about going out with your friend on Saturday night and meeting that person who completely blows your mind. And it also has the lyric in it, ‘I’m dying inside’, so it sort of lends itself well with people dressed as vampires and mummies and things.
When&Where: Martians Café, Deans Marsh – March 22. Monique also plays the ChillOut Festival in Daylesford.
Written by Zach Broadhurst