It was Friday, November 20, 2009. I was in the car in Huonville with Mr S and Tore, my bass player. Together we were Amy Kendall & The Kitchenhands, and we were about to start recording my second EP 'A Week of Saturdays'. We'd stopped to get petrol in Huonville and Tore whipped out Mumford and Sons and said 'You've got to hear this.'
We drove all the way to Cradoc to get pizza listening to the CD. The mood was celebratory and tinged with sadness all at once. Celebratory because Mr S and I had gotten engaged the evening before. Sadness because Tore had finally gotten his dream job... in WA.
The memory of that evening is tinged with sunlight, warm breezes and the emotions of being very happy and nostalgically sad. But I remember feeling so secure with the two men who were (are) my very best friends and excited at the adventure we were about to embark on. In December, Mr S and I (sans Tore, who'd moved to WA) played at the Taste Festival and the Falls Festival on the same day, and then the Cygnet Folk Festival. It was a halcyon summer, and it all started with that song.
Then last night in bed listening to AM radio I heard The Temper Trap's 'Sweet Disposition' and suddenly I was transported again. This time, to the Falls Festival at Marion Bay. Mr S dragged me to see this band he really liked, but it was the second day of the Festival, I'd been ill for two days (so much fun at a festival) and I was hungry. So I left him in the crowd and went to get a Vegan curry from the monks who ran a stall up the hill. Then I heard this voice. I've always regretted not being patient enough to stay and see their whole set, because what I did see was truly amazing.
I always smile when I hear 'Sometimes I Feel Like There Are Two of Me' by my favourite Tasmanians, Invisible Boy. I met these amazing men (and lady) when I first started gigging in Tasmania.. so I suppose it would be about six years ago now? We were always on the same bill at the same empty Irish bar, and Ben and Daniel would always stay around and listen, then get into their car and drive back to Launceston at 12am. They played at my first EP launch, and me theirs. They are the most generous, kind hearted individuals I've ever met. I asked them to play at my wedding, and they said yes. They learned a song that Mr S wrote for me for our first anniversary, so many years ago, and played it for 20 minutes on repeat whilst there was a debacle about my coming down the tree-lined aisle. It's only a two minute song. (Turns out it was late comers... then I was there but the man who was communicating to Mr S that I was there wasn't paying attention, and no one would let me just walk down the goddamned aisle.)
After the wedding they whizzed themselves to the reception venue, and played my song 'Grains of Sand' as Mr S and I walked in to the reception and then they burst into 'Sometimes I Feel Like There are Two of Me', at my request. It was amazingly brilliant.
When I hear Gypsy & The Cat's 'Time To Wander', it's December 2010 and Mr S and I are waking up at the Mercure Hotel in Christchurch, NZ. We are jetlagged and wondering how on earth we will find breakfast and get our hire car this morning. But we're OVERSEAS. So we are very excited. side note: Mr S spent a good few minutes surveying our 16th story room to find a safe place should there be another earthquake. I 'pffft' from the comfort of the king sized bed. In four months time the Mercure is declared the most unsafe building in Christchurch and will need to be demolished. Oh.
When Millie is tiny we would eat breakfast in bed every morning (it sounds luxurious... but with an infant... it's just easier.) and listen to the radio. Millie is a lady of music and Mr S would bounce her around to the same songs every morning that were on high rotation at the time whilst I
I could go on forever. But tell me, what are the songs that are the soundtrack to your life?
