Amy Alexander

From early beginnings in country Victoria, indie pop songstress Amy Alexander has been busy cleaning out the clutter of her extensive songwriting hoard. Heavily influenced from 7 years living in the UK, Amy’s songwriting style has moved through folk, alt.country and twee-pop to arrive at a combination of all three, with the addition of much-loved synth (“I am a child of the 80’s,” she exclaims).

“Reluctantly, I left the UK after years of being absorbed in the thriving and eclectic music scene,” she laments, and after such highlights as supporting Herman Dune in Leeds - and a jaw-dropping moment whilst on stage at the Metro in London, upon spotting Morrissey in the audience - has happily settled back into the “agreeable climate and self-contained music culture of Melbourne”.

Amy returned to Melbourne in 2007 and formed alt. pop band ‘The Love Bites’, following closely behind ukulele-casio-twee-pop band ‘The Sweethearts’ (a collaboration with Joe Margetts, co-founder of Angular Records, London) – with more emphasis on the pop, less on the twee. Fronting The Love Bites with ukulele, and backed with electric guitar, bass and drums, the sound produced was self-described as “a torpedo of pop nuggets, coming at you from underneath the galloping hooves of an angry moose”.

In 2009 Amy won the APRA Open award at the Darebin Music Feast Songwriter’s Awards, with her song Hill’s Hoist, followed by an appearance, ukulele in tow, on PBS’ Homebrew with Maddy Mac. This spawned ideas for a solo direction, largely ornamented by an ever-changing selection of talented Melbourne musicians to create diverse and textured arrangements. Amy is currently working on an EP trilogy titled Spare Parts, while dipping into the world of film music and teaching.

Amy’s songs cross boundaries in style, genre and sentiment, from comic references to everyday situations, to thoughtful musings, offering an insight into her own personal experiences, thoughts and ideas. Fictional situations described in synth-pop gems Too Drunk To Kiss (I’ll complement your dancing/but there won’t be romancing) and Safeway Parking Lot (microwave meals are your style/I look depressed in the health food aisle) are nicely countered by frank and somewhat melancholic revelations; such as harmony-laden Broken Down Dumping Ground (the doctor knows you will die/if you don’t let love lie/what remains, when you’re free?/a saccharine eulogy), and sombre folk-ballad Train Of Thought (there are lessons in every mistake you make/what a mess you’ve made/clean it up now).

Amy’s live shows range from electrified 6-piece band set-ups to intimate quintets featuring cello, violin and piano. Avid listeners will no doubt recognise influences from The Magnetic Fields, Eels, Grandaddy, Kathryn Williams and Elliot Smith, plus The Research (UK) and Bachelorette (New Zealand). Spare Parts will cover a wide range of styles and instrumentation, featuring Amy’s sweet and understated voice and melodies, a mix of synth and acoustic instruments, and the delightful sounds of home-made percussion, including stapler and hole-punch. Just in case you think singing about parking lots and hill’s hoists is not cute enough, that is.