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Interview: Sarah Blasko

by Tina Whelski

One morning Australian singer/songwriter Sarah Blasko woke to hear a song she had written blaring from her clock radio and thought she was dreaming. When the record labels started calling, she knew she wasn’t. Tastemaker radio station Triple J records had picked up on the Sydney native’s atmospheric pop and now she finds herself with a debut full-length, The Overture & The Underscore, released in the U.S. on Low Altitude/Universal.

Blasko’s vision to blend unrefined elements with electronics to create a patchwork of different sounds on the album was aided by Hollywood producer Wally Gagel (Muse, The Eels).

“Some of the stuff on the EP [Prelusive] was a little ‘electronicy’ and I wanted to find a way of fusing those things with a really organic and natural band kind of vibe, a bit of warmth I thought it lacked before,” said Blasko. “I think more than anything I wanted it to have a real humanity to it, for the voice to sound real and nothing could be overproduced. I wanted it to have a classic image to it and for the songs to have enough space to breathe and not be too clouded.”

In addition to Gagel and bandmate Robert F. Cranny, Joey Waronker (Beck, REM) joined them on drums.

“I’ve always had an appreciation for the drums, but I really value a really good drummer now,” says Blasko about working with Waronker. “He’s very intuitive and he’s got a lot of taste in what he chooses to play.”

In songs such as “Don’t U Eva,” “All Coming Back,” and “Always Worth It,” Blasko shows her intuition for getting to the heart of a song. She admitted that imperfections were welcome in the recording process. They signal intimacy and sensitivity. Perhaps some of that awareness for honest expression comes from the source of her introduction to music.

Seated in a church pew beside her tone-deaf mother and an eighty-year-old soprano hymning the Lord’s praises, was where Blasko first realized the difference between singing with conviction and technical vocalises. Motivated by the discovery, Blasko joined her Sydney Australian church band at age sixteen and by eighteen recognized songwriting as career-worthy. When her initial try at a band failed and actually flunked out of counseling too—long, expensive story—she retreated to her bedroom to record solo demos, including a song titled, “Your Way,” that started spinning on Triple J and paved her to being heard across continents.

Blasko’s climb to airplay was not as easy as the turn of a dial though. She toiled for six years and was quite disheartened by the process before meeting a reporter from a weekly music publication who became a fan and her manager. Using his connections he arranged to have a copy of Blasko’s demo tucked into a pile of CD’s a friend was handing to radio at a meeting. Check out Sarah Blasko at www.sarahblasko.com .

Tina Whelski is Editor of Womanrock.com. She is also a columnist and feature writer for The Aquarian Weekly/East Coast Rocker www.theaquarian.com , Managing Editor of Starpolish.com www.starpolish.com , and contributes to The Hollywood Reporter www.hollywoodreporter.com , Modern Drummer www.moderndrummer.com . Music Connection www.musicconnection.com and Good Times magazine www.goodtimesmag.com . Additionally she consults for Fearless Music TV www.fearlessmusic.com .