Coen Dixon

About Coen Dixon
About 35 k's east of Melbourne, there's a place referred to by the locals as “The hills”. It is a cosy little community with a staggering amount of musical talent, but one artist seems to be standing out from the crowd. In the hills of Mt Dandenong, word seems to be getting around about Coen Dixon. Coen has been honing his musical talent at numerous venues in the area (Ruby's in Belgrave, Kelly's in Olinda, Grind and groove in Healsville etc) and gets down to the city once in a while where he has played at some of Melbourne's top venues such as The Espy, The Northcote Social club and The Empress, just to name a few. He has also played and received special acknowledgment at the “Just Guitars” competition at The Port Fairy Folk Music Festival. Distracting himself for many years trying and struggling to fit into the regular 9 to 5 work environment, Coen threw the towel in a few years back and realised that his life long passion was the only thing he could peruse to keep sane. “I had worked at various bars and nightclubs throughout Melbourne for years, trying to function in some sort of way that resembled normality but that world is very bad for me. I quit my job and decided to pursue music.” After studying at one of Melbourne's top musical institutions, he then realised that the structure and discipline of that world had a constricting effect on him also. “I realised that I was looking for answers from many external sources, and it wasn't till I looked inside myself and trusted my own words and expression that I found my own voice.” And what a voice it is. His unique vocal style is something to be heard. There's a passion and boldness that cuts to the core of each member of the audience. If your lucky enough to stumble in upon one of Coen's gigs in the hills you will find the whole venue captivated, hanging off his every word. His voice has the ability to be so beautifully gentle, expressing the deepest emotion and then so powerful and all the while that Melbourne based Australian accent colouring his inciteful words. Through his thoughtful lyrics Coen shares his experience of the human condition. He taps into the vein of the disassociated zeitgeist, and expresses something that today's society seems to forget. In some way we are all connected. In a society that can have the underlying feeling that something is wrong, and people are struggling to accept that there is nothing we can do about it, landing in an inherited world of empty promises and confused people feeding negative human tendencies, Coens lyrics have a strong resonance and leave you with an unspoken truth. You are not alone in feeling this way. He manages to connect with his audience and you walk away from his gig with a sense that you got to know him. No wonder. He approaches all that he does with an honesty and integrity that is reminiscent of such artists as Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody. Coen's Music has been described as New Alternative Folk, and his songs about political, environmental, social issues, earn him this description. He also has the ability to pull out a light hearted foot tapping song just at the right time to balance the mood of his performance and leave you with an open heart and a smile on your face. He is an artist of a calibre that is rare to find these days.