We are very honoured to premiere today the new single and video ‘Homecoming’ from troubadour extraordinaire Mark Moldre. The single comes off his exquisite album ‘Nambucca Fables’ released earlier this year, and in a sense encapsulates all the grace and beauty of that album.
Setting off with the iconic sounds of birds warbling in the distance (a sound that uniquely captures Australia), the track is laced with weeping strings, wailing slide guitars and a shuffling beat like the clacks of a train over the tracks. Moldre’s vocals drip with a melancholy sheen as he, reflecting the style of the album as whole, reminisces about another time etched in his memories, with backing vocals adding a certain lustre. There is a graceful, wistful air to the track that positively shimmers and glides through the expansive skies.
Moldre says of the song:
The various themes of the album morph into a train trip through towns I remember as a child like Macksville and Kempsey. Lyrics blur like a dream as settings, thoughts and faces join, meld, seperate and slip away. Clarity only lasts a second and then goes out of focus. Some memories are hard to catch.
The video clip, like the song, is steeped in nostalgia – a sepia portrait of Moldre performing with his guitar in his home – a comforting domestic environment, interspersed with scene of travel through rural Australia. Moldre says of the clip, directed by himself and shot with son Chet Moldre:
Singing at home is where all of these songs begin and end to be honest – so it seemed like the logical location for this clip. I also recently took a trip to Nambucca Heads, the town of my mother’s birth, the title inspiration for my recent album and the place of many a family holiday, I took a little footage on the way which is included in the clip…revisiting all those memories is a Homecoming of sorts.
While steeped in nostalgia, the clip gives a certain momentum – the sense of moving onwards, reflecting on the past but travelling to new territories.
This is classic Moldre territory: an ability to sonically capture feelings and memories like an aural photograph, framed in a beautiful setting and delivered with a raw naked emotion that lingers in your mind for an eternity.
‘Homecoming’ is out tomorrow (Wednesday, 8 November) and you can download and stream here. It was written by Mark Moldre and Jamie Hutchings.
In the meantime, you can get the album through the link below and through all the usual downloading and streaming sites:
Moldre will be playing live this month – details below and tickets available here.
