FEATURE: Papa Vs Pretty

“I’ve had music as a companion and friend more than I’ve ever had a person so it’s a kind of weird marriage and it’s all I really do.”

“I’m definitely excited but I’m a cautiously optimistic individual, ” says Thomas Rawle, frontman of the young Sydney trio, Papa Vs Pretty, about the release of their debut album, United in Isolation.

“I never get too excited about anything because if nothing happens I don’t want it to be a let-down. So I’m remaining happily cynical. I think (this record) is all right and hopefully others think so too.”

“All right” isn’t a term one could ever attach to the 20-year-old or to his band and their music. With a sound more mature than their years might suggest, it isn’t surprising to learn that Rawle has been living and breathing music his entire life and says he has recorded a staggering 30 albums to date.

“I’ve had music as a companion and friend more than I’ve ever had a person so it’s a kind of weird marriage and it’s all I really do, ” he says. “I’ve written albums since I was young and a lot of them are kind of strange.

“My dad used to be a recording engineer so I’ve always made albums at home and eventually I got so obsessed with albums as things, more than with songs.”

United in Isolation is a cohesive listen. At first Rawle wrote it entirely as an acoustic version straight after recording the Heavy Harm EP last year. It was fleshed out with bandmates Angus Gardiner and Tom Myers, tested at their live shows and then recorded by Paul McKercher (You Am I, Augie March) and mixed by Scott Horscroft (the Presets, Silverchair).

While the album itself is difficult to pigeonhole in that it seemingly takes influences from a range of artists — from Jeff Buckley to Muse and early Radiohead, through to a whole gamut of 90s Australian bands — it’s delivered in a neat pop-rock package that’s built around strong melodies and creative instrumentation.

Since their previous two EPs, the last of which propelled them into the spotlight through Triple J airplay and national supports with Paul Dempsey and Howling Bells, it seems they have now honed their sound.

“The stuff I’m writing now is much easier because everything has its own place, ” Rawle says. “It’s easier because it’s all melodically centred and kind of makes a lot more sense. I was pretty young when I first started releasing music so it was confusing figuring it all out. It feels good to have an idea now.”

An easy guy to converse with on the phone, Rawle says he’s actually not very good in social situations and so lyrically the album is centred on his observations.

“I used to write things that were quite off kilter to anything in reality but nowadays I guess I write more about what actually happens. But that said, I spend so much time writing that I don’t really experience that much in comparison to other people my age who are out doing stuff.

“So when I experience something it probably isn’t much but I’ll obsess over it for ages and write about it and it ends up being more than it actually was.”
RACHEL DAVISON

THE PLUG: United in Isolation is out now. Papa Vs Pretty play Mojos Bar, Fremantle, on July 8 and Amplifier Bar on July 9. Tickets from Moshtix and Heatseeker.