cheynne murphy

Date: 12/11/2010
For Immediate Release

RE: The Space In-between
It has been18 months since Cheynne Murphy released his Firesongs EP at the 2009 Bluesfest and he is poised now to launch his debut album entitled Spaces In-between in a suitably spacious beer garden behind Billinudgel Hotel, Sunday December 05, supported by his some of his close musical friends Mark Heazlett and Cass, Inanna’s Wish and other special guests. It promises to be a family friendly afternoon celebrating acoustic, Celtic and folk music in an outdoor festival like setting.

We all need a little space. Space from our partner, space from our children, or simply the wide open spaces of nature. Or as Cheynne discovered through producing this album, space from your own mind and the tendency to over control things. As Cheynne recalls: “When we set up for recording drums at my place in South Golden Beach, there was some discussion between the engineers and drummer about the best acoustic space to record. The drummer chose somewhere quite different to the engineers. He also tuned his drum kit unusually and was playing a small bebop Jazz kit. This was the first important decision I had to make so I deferred to the musician in this case which set the tone for how I produced the whole record. I simply created an atmosphere in my home for musicians to come in and freely express whatever they had in mind with little direction or limitations. I even cooked roast dinners to make it more homely. Creatively the key to the production was in selecting the best bits from this free expression.”.

The album was recorded almost entirely at Cheynne’s A-frame beach shack with a steady procession of musicians coming and going which included Irish pipes and whistle, bansuri flute, harpsichord, mandolin, strings, piano, and guitars embellished with layers of harmonies. You can even hear the sound of waves in one track. As locals of Byron shire are well aware there is a reservoir of talented people of all kinds of strange and interesting instruments. Cheynne tapped into this sound and the result has been a very eclectic folk rock record full of ambience and honesty. Cheynne’s love of hooks and melodies also gives it a strong pop sensibility.

The afternoon kicks off at 1pm so come down for a counter lunch and a rich afternoon of home-grown music talent, Sunday December 05.


- Metamorphis

Local Byron artist Cheynne Murphy is in good company having just been added to the 2009 Bluesfest line-up featuring Ben Harper, John Butler,and Michael Franti amongst others. Good timing as Cheynne is about to release his new EP Firesongs for the Soul nationally in February. Featuring a strong harmony based, acoustic sound, it looks like a stellar a year for this emerging singer-songwriter. Already garnering critical industry acclaim, these new songs seem to effortlessly traverse an alternative acoustic folk pop terrain ending up somewhere in the misty hills of Byron Bay, the inspiration and location for most of the song writing.

Cheynne is an artist rising out of the healthy singer-songwriter sub-culture now flourishing in Australia following the success stories of Bernard Fanning, Bob Evans, Pete Murray and Josh Pyke to name a few. Not a stranger to his own success Cheynne has already gained national radio airplay, national television performances, a major publishing deal and some big supports to his credit. His early career was spent chasing record deals in indie bands and after a period of soul searching on a Macadamia farm near Bangalow on the North Coast, starting a new family and then dealing with an emotional separation the foundation was laid for the Firesongs recording.

Lyrically the songs reflect this transition. The transformative power of change really shines through the emotional depths explored in separation and the potential freedom that can arise from this. Ultimately
this is a record about moving on and spiritual growth.

The initial inspiration for the EP was an innocent recording session taking place between friends
around a campfire.
“Originally I did actually start recording this around a campfire which was a great vibe but not so crash hot with the low–fi quality of sound. I tried this because I felt the songs lent themselves to this kind of classic atmosphere you get when you are sitting around a fire with friends and someone has a guitar and people start singing songs together. Fortunately working at SAE gave me the opportunity to record in a million dollar studio so I took it to get a little more hi-fi in the sound.”

The recording process involved a lot of spontaneous unrehearsed performances from guitarists, singers, violinists, flute players and also trumpet helping capture a rich organic tapestry. In fact this is a totally home-grown production right down to the mastering and artwork.
“It makes sense to do things locally. Byron Bay is such a magical place and as such the recording process was full of these magic moments. One day the engineer EJ and I were driving in the hills picking up some overdubs mobile style at friend’s houses. We went around to record a trumpet player in Possum Creek, John Hoffman. EJ plays drums and couldn’t believe John was in Buddy Rich’s band for 15 years, and played with Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald amongst others he was blown away… John has this amazing house in Possum Creek and we set him up blowing his horn out to the green hills. We were going for a wild-west sound in one of the songs Wild Lonesome Feeling…Daniel Boone style. He really nailed it.”

The final piece to the puzzle occurred when local engineer and producer Anthony Lycenko (Pete Murray) heard the rough mixes and came on board to help produce the final mixes. His contribution really shines through on the recording and raised the quality to an international level.

Firesongs for the Soul will be released digitally and to all good record shops in Feburary 2008 and will be toured on the East Coast over the next year starting with shows on the North Coast and Bluesfest before tours to Sydney and Melbourne. Cheynne has assembled an incredibly talented eclectic band of musicians from where he lives in Byron to showcase the material. You can catch a sneak preview of the tracks at www.myspace.com/cheynnemurphy The first single to radio is Coming Home a reflective ode to finding your own path in a life full of distractions.
- The Echo