Josh Pyke – Standing The Test Of Time

By Dan Hutton on October 23, 2015 in Arts

While it took Sydney singer/songwriter Josh Pyke a good ten years to release his critically acclaimed debut album, he has been rather prolific since, releasing a further four albums in the ten years that has followed. His most recent addition to the stable, ‘But For All These Shrinking Hearts’, was released on the last day of July, debuting at #2 on the ARIA Albums chart, his best result thus far. The Beast fired a few questions at Josh during the month…

My earliest music memory is… sitting on the stairs in my childhood home listening to ‘House at Pooh Corner’ by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I felt so engaged with the story through the music, and I was kind of hooked on that feeling from then on.

The idea for the new album name… ‘But For All These Shrinking Hearts’, came from… a section from a verse I wrote when I was touring the UK. I was feeling quite isolated and was in the middle of London with millions of people streaming around me. I wrote: “You were a shadow held aloft in a world less vast, but for all these shrinking hearts.” I nabbed the last sentence for the album title.

The album could be described as… I really don’t feel I can describe my own album objectively. I really love it, I think it’s my best work, and beyond that I will leave descriptions to journalists… how would you describe it?

I’d like to think that my music is… honest and maintains the integrity that it was born from. I’d like to think it will stand the test of time, and at its core is story telling music.

The most exciting thing about the local music scene in Sydney is… the constantly regenerating population of it. Every year new bands form and old bands die. It’s exciting knowing that next year an amazing band could spring forth on the scene and change Australian music.

My biggest fan has got to be… my kids. They have started to get into my music now and I reckon they’re pretty big fans.

There was this one time when I was starting out that… I thought I’d never get anywhere, then ten years passed and I finally made my first record! Things take a long time so don’t give up.

If I could have written any song, it would have been… ‘Gangnam Style’. I wish I’d ghost written that song – no performance, no publicity, just royalties.

One person I’d still really like to record with is… James Mercer from The Shins. He’s an amazing producer and writer.

If you come and see me play, you can expect… all the hits, baby.

I never want to get to the point where I… get complacent about how lucky I am to be doing this for a living.

My dream gig would be… playing the Opera House forecourt. I think that’s about the only place I haven’t played in Australia!

To find out more about Josh Pyke, visit www.joshpyke.com.