Music / Premieres
Premiere:
Mailman - Avaunce / My Travelling Girl
Mailman - Avaunce / My Travelling Girl
Today we have the pleasure of sharing ‘Avaunce’ and ‘My Travelling Girl’ from Ballarat songwriter Mailman, two new tracks that invite us into the surreal freak-folk world of his forthcoming debut album, while also revealing the broadening scope of the project.
Recognisable as the guitarist of Ballarat punk crew Snake Valley, Lachlan Reynolds stepped out on his own as Mailman in late 2020, to share his evocative and ruminant solo endeavours. While his self-titled debut EP existed in a different sonic zone to his work with Snake Valley, both projects seemed to come from a similar space, anchored by the same sense of restless punk attitude and DIY charisma. However, with the release of ‘Avaunce’ and its B-side track ‘My Travelling Girl’ today, which comes as the first taste of Mailman’s forthcoming full-length album, we’re shown a deeper side to the project as Lachlan crafts his most elusive music yet.
Existing somewhere between warbly freak-folk and dark psychedelia, ‘Avaunce’ expands open around a hypnotic and cyclical finger-picked guitar as Mailman’s sandy vocals loom broodingly from within the mix. With assistance from Michael Vince Moin (of Tram Cops and ctrl + me), the two have combined their strengths to craft something that simultaneously feels sleepy and meditative yet just as gritty and unnerving; and by the time we approach the track’s conclusion, there’s an alluring heaviness that’s accumulated over the past four minutes that washes over us as ‘Avaunce’ draws to a close.
Speaking about the track, Lachlan shares “I had a dream that I was standing in a doorway, between two rooms. One drenched in light and the other in darkness. I remember a powerful desire and curiosity filling me as I stared into the unknown corners of that room. For darkness isn't the fear of the unknown, it's a fear of possibilities, wonderful or terrifying. The lyrics from this song explore this feeling and idea”.
On the B-side is ‘My Travelling Girl’, another curveball from Mailman that exists largely around the soft hum of an organ as it transitions effortlessly between sounding eerie and uplifting, while Lachlan delivers a spoken word eulogy that has him sounding more enigmatic than ever as the song unravels. Together, these tracks make an unlikely pair but the result is genuinely enthralling, leaving us with lots to look forward to in the lead up to Mailman’s pending debut album.
Existing somewhere between warbly freak-folk and dark psychedelia, ‘Avaunce’ expands open around a hypnotic and cyclical finger-picked guitar as Mailman’s sandy vocals loom broodingly from within the mix. With assistance from Michael Vince Moin (of Tram Cops and ctrl + me), the two have combined their strengths to craft something that simultaneously feels sleepy and meditative yet just as gritty and unnerving; and by the time we approach the track’s conclusion, there’s an alluring heaviness that’s accumulated over the past four minutes that washes over us as ‘Avaunce’ draws to a close.
Speaking about the track, Lachlan shares “I had a dream that I was standing in a doorway, between two rooms. One drenched in light and the other in darkness. I remember a powerful desire and curiosity filling me as I stared into the unknown corners of that room. For darkness isn't the fear of the unknown, it's a fear of possibilities, wonderful or terrifying. The lyrics from this song explore this feeling and idea”.
On the B-side is ‘My Travelling Girl’, another curveball from Mailman that exists largely around the soft hum of an organ as it transitions effortlessly between sounding eerie and uplifting, while Lachlan delivers a spoken word eulogy that has him sounding more enigmatic than ever as the song unravels. Together, these tracks make an unlikely pair but the result is genuinely enthralling, leaving us with lots to look forward to in the lead up to Mailman’s pending debut album.
Mailman's debut album Rooms of the Red Castle is set to be released later this year.
