Sheyana Releases Video for ‘Remarkable Man’

February 2, 2024

Born in covid lockdown, Remarkable Man morphed from a quick trot, Johnny Cash sounding country & western ditty into a full throttle foot tapping country rock banger! While we were in the studio, recording this song, we changed up the feel. Our sound engineer/producer Russell Pilling suggested changing the original feel of Johnny Cash inspired Americana Country to a tougher AC/DC – Aussie Rock feel. And bingo, it was like a brand new song and the track fit like a glove into our latest EP ‘Ricochet’.

And when I close my eyes, this is how the imagery of the song plays in my mind: “Show yourself friend or foe! And without warning, Remarkable Man lined up a double barrel shotgun in his right hand, took aim and pulled the trigger. Bullets of pleasure and pain cracked down the barrels at the same time. A direct hit! In his left hand was a double edged sword to finish the job, shining bright, cutting deep, demanding to be loved & loathed. Cover your trusting heart! Do you have the superpowers to survive the impact?”

Sheyana gathers her band and they head towards Mt Gnomen to a property in the central coast of Tasmania. With the power of music and inspiration from their deep Tassie roots, they jam out a song about taking a bullet, and surviving! You can’t keep a good band down!

Filming & editing by Jesse Creedon at Readings Advertising.

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Silphie Releases Single ‘Sulpicia’s Birthday’

February 2, 2024

Featuring Silphie’s sublime highly trained vocals, a Harmonium, cello, viola and nylon string classical guitar, the debut release for this neo classical/world music act from the NSW Central Coast is sure to have ears lighting up. The quality of the recording, the players, the juxtaposition of the vocals switching from Latin to English and the overall sound of this track will put you in a medieval soundscape that could be part of a beautiful old film shot on 70mm.

Sulpicia was a female poet who lived in Rome in 40BC. Sulpicia’s Birthday is the second in a series of six poems. The story describes her ecstasy, as Sulpicia writes to her lover to tell him she has arranged for the two of them to spend her birthday together, frolicking in Rome.

Lisa Haymes photography.

Michaele Archer graduated (with distinction) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Opera School and has performed nationally and internationally. She also attained a Masters in Applied Science, researching breathing techniques for opera singers from the University of Sydney.

Her research in breathing techniques was presented in Paris at the International Congress of Voice Teachers. Recently Michaele has been performing and studying in Los Angeles and Switzerland with vocal expert Robin de Haas and has been certified as an Advanced Breathing Coordination practitioner.

Lisa Haymes photography.

Michaele’s love of ancient instruments and language led her to the work of Sulpicia, a female poet who lived in Rome in the time of Augustus. ‘Garland, the love poems of Sulpicia’ is her latest recording project.

Sulpicia’s poems were included in a publication of the famous roman writer Tibullus and originally attributed to him. The mystery around Sulpicia as a young woman breaking taboos, writing of a secret love affair and the rich sound of the Latin text drew Michaele deep into the project. The poems form the text for the album. Written for harmonium, guitar, cello, viola and vocals, Michaele’s recordings embrace a tone palate that is analogue, raw and dark.

Silphie is a collaboration with Michaele Archer (vocal and harmonium), Rachel Whealy (cello), Giuseppe Zangari (guitar), and Gab Stelle (viola). The name Silphie is inspired by the ancient world’s herb Silphium which was used for everything from perfume and cooking to medicine.

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Video premiere

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Extra Time Releases New Album ‘Songs With Long Titles’

January 22, 2024

So it has been four years since our last album. We have been winnowing down the stories that we would like to tell and twelve new tunes made the cut. Taking badly recorded demos and some wildly inaccurate charts to Damien Gerard Studios in Gosford, Australia, we spent four days recording and knocking together arrangements into some kind of shape. Many of the musicians who played on the first record kindly agreed to go around again and try and make sense of what we had.

We had a few base principles. No samples, no Click, no Grid and no Autotune. Everything on the album was performed live by a musician. Our drummer was our click track. The whole album was recorded to 2” tape and then digitized into Pro Tools. The whole process was a lot of fun and hopefully that comes across in the music and the performance and in the behind the scenes videos that we will be releasing. We were looking for a high fi, harmonically interesting sound that would live up to all of the great records made by our heroes. Its up to you to decide whether we succeeded.

‘Songs With Long Titles’, the second album for Extra Time is a journey through intriguing stories of life, death, delusion, joy, passion and dreams in classic rock album format along with just enough jazz and blues influences to keep it interesting. Think Steely Dan meets Supertramp if you like references.

Lyricist, composer and singer Brendan McNamara has been honing his craft over many years and for this record teamed up with ex Los Angeles co producer and engineer Andrew Beck at Damien Gerard Studios in West Gosford. A veritable A List of session musicians were called in through the 20 plus days of recording and mixing.

The record was mixed at the same facility by Brendan and Andrew and Mastered by Grammy Winner William Bowden. Now released to the world in double gatefold vinyl – 3 songs per side for maximum quality, and digitally across all platforms on 22 January 2024.

About Extra Time
When you think of classic album rock names like Pink Floyd, Steely Dan and Supertramp spring to mind. You might be surprised to know there is a Sydney based band that has been toiling away for some years creating some truly classic sounds and songs with a similar aesthetic and instrumentation.

The guys met at school and hit it off as a young band and writing team, but ever since have been involved in other projects and built careers locally and internationally. Extra Time became a creative outlet to record and release music they love.

The first album came out pre-covid, scoring some decent streaming figures and TV sync activity.

MUSICIAN CREDITS

Tim Firth                  Drums
Brett Hirst                Bass
Aaron Blakey            Keyboards
Peter Koopman        Guitar
Amanda Easton        Vocals
Sarina Jennings        Vocals
Paul Murchison        Trumpet
Matthew Keegan      Trombone
Bridget Darby           French Horn
Luke Bartley             Tuba
Jane Stanley             Strings
Andrew Beck            Tubular Bells

Songs With Long Titles is OUT NOW

MUSIC VIDEO FOR SINGLE ‘WHERE IS THE LIGHT’