Raw, poetic, authentic, honest, folk-pop singer/songwriter.

10 MP3 Songs
POP: Folky Pop, FOLK: like Joni



Details:
"A very deceptive release this one. Easy to dismiss this miss as another girly singer songwriter. But after a few listens you can become entranced by these simple melodies and very direct and acute observations on love and life. One song that keeps coming back to haunt is 'Hope Wish Pray', which is a plea to a lover to think twice before leaving. The acoustic guitar on 'Helium' is really sublime always in the right place and belies the fact that Pippa is a relative newcomer. 'Clouds On Her Mind' with its "drowning in maybes covered in blue" is very atmospheric with the only added instrument sounding like an ethereal keyboard. 'No Sharper Edge' is a letter to her parents wishing she'd been warned about more dangerous things than running with scissors. 'Helium Balloon' is a great example of how well these songs are constructed and show Drysdale's dynamics in all their glory. Soft, loud, up and down all explored within the confines of one acoustic and voice. 'Kryptonite' is a good one about the super lover who doesn't exist and there's even a drum on this one. But don't get too excited, by the time you get to 'Phoenix' and 'Highway 64' it's back to six strings and a prayer. I can hear these songs with a band but it wouldn't be the same. It's better this way. Pure and simple."

Review by Slyvester Fox, Groove Magazine, pg 51, June/August 2006

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Article by Katrina Pullella from the May issue of Reakt Magazine (www.reakt.com.au):

âYou have to study poetry. Let it become the marrow in your bones. It will make you impervious to the worldâs soft decay.â
- Janet Fitch, White Oleander.

The above quote, from Janet Finchâs novel âWhite Oleanderâ, is one I have always thought contemporary musicians should take heed of. Modern popular music being the vapid wasteland of empty lyrics and bare midriffs that it is, the tabula rasa of IdolLand is just begging to be inscribed with something more unique, bold and meaningful.

This is why, for me, it was such a pleasure to be introduced to the music of Pippa Drysdale, peripatetic poetess and perceptive observer of Daily Life. A native of Cape Town, South Africa, Drysdaleâs curious childhood was spent somewhere between her home town, Australia and Zimbabwe, an exotic cultural blend whose influence on her musical stylings was evident in her first album. âPrint of My Handâ, her debut, was an acoustic guitar-strumming collection of songs inspired by her sojourn to New York. However, her investigation of lifeâs big themes, love, despair and hope, mad a musical recount of her experiences less like a window to The City That Never Sleeps and more like a guided tour of the human condition.

Drysdale returns to such themes in her follow-up album âheliumâ, conjugating spirituality and skepticism in a way that makes such strange bedfellows seem natural companions. This young songstressâs acoustic handiwork and dedication to her subject matter puts her among the greats. I donât know if Drysdale has read White Oleander, but her musicâs loveliness, its depth, its precision, its haunting quality, certainly recalls Finchâs trenchant words.

âHelium Balloonâ, the track from which the album takes its name, is a gentle melody comprised of the acoustic kisses popularized by the likes of Jewel, Joan Baez and Ani, clearly Drysdaleâs inspirations. The musical equivalent of having your lover whisper sweet somethings in your ear during a memorable interlude, âHelium Balloonâ will float about in your thoughts long after its moment has passed.

âRio De Janeiroâ, the albumâs ponderous sevenths track, meditates on the aspirations of a street urchin: âHe sits with a paper cup/and heâll open up the door/ if you give him a buckâ¦/He buys a Lotto ticket/ âCuz you never know, he might win.â

As Drysdale gently invites us to sympathise with this transient, she also asks us to reflect on our own banal dreams, paying off a mortgage, landing a nice job and home, the ordinary dreams of attaining a measure of security in a world that is anything but, and makes us realize we all have our own personal yet universal vision of happiness, disparities in class and geographical borders transcended by the common aspirations of the human spirit. We all have our own Rio.

The strangely debilitating effect of what is paradoxically said to be the most empowering of substances, romantic love, is identified by Drysdale as the hallucinogen of the heart in the song âKryptoniteâ. Loveâs ability to stifle and suppress, the opposite of its true purpose to fee and expand is exposed as the vast untapped potential of humanityâs most natural resource, the depth of which we so readily substitute for empty Hallmark clichés.

Drysdale, a singer and songwriter whose observations are devastatingly accurate, is wrong about one thing; love wonât sap her of her powers. âheliumâ is a beautifully executed album, lovingly crafted and with surgical precision. It is not a catchy pop collection that you will listen to everyday, but, as its title implies, it will uplift you when you need it most.

Pippa Drysdale is touring over to the eastern states for the month of May and then around the UK in December.

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Helium is Pippa's second album. Acoustic, heartfelt, poetic and authentic, it picks up where "Print of My Hand", her first album, left off. Her lyrics are a bit like Joni Mitchell, a bit like Ani Difranco and a bit like Dar Williams, while her voice is somewhere between Dido, Jewel and Suzanne Vega.

This album is basically a collection of candid songs that balance on the precarious line between hope and despair.

For more info please see www.pippadrysdale.com

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Interview, April 2006

Local gem Pippa Drysdale showcased her talents at this years WAMI festival and is on their compilation CD. She plays at different venues in and around Perth and can heard quite often on local radio stations. So far she has over 2000 fans (Australia and overseas) and that figure is surely rising. Next month she's going on tour with Melbourne band Kanvas Grey but before that venture she gave us this interview.

Q. Tell us a little bit of history about yourself as a singer/songwriter. How did you start out and what have you achieved?

Well, I started playing guitar while I was living in New York, six years ago. I taught myself off the internet (with no speakers, which made things kind of hard...lol). It took me about 6 months to realise that I was reading TAB (guitar music) upside down, that discovery definitely made things sound a whole lot better : ) I really only picked up the guitar to write songs.

What have I acheived? Ummm...I've written, recorded and released two albums, "Print of My Hand" and "Helium", I've played live on the radio quite a bit, "Print of My Hand" got a couple of really nice reviews, one of which was from the States and resulted in quite a few sales and some life long fans and "Helium" was RTR's feature album of the week some time in March. But more than anything I've learnt so much as a musician and songwriter and gotten to play with some pretty cool people : )

Q. What bands have had the greatest influence on you and who are your favourite bands at the moment?

Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega, Joni Mitchell, Dar Williams, Ani Difranco, Jewel, Sarah Mclachlan...the list goes on. At the moment I'm really into Cindy Lauper - a very good songwriter..

Q. What helps in writing new songs? Do you need solitude to get inspiration?

I need HEAPS of solitude. Not so much for getting inspiration, that comes from everyday life, but for the actually writing process. Anyone who knows me well will tell you how cranky I get when I don't get enough time alone to write. I can't even have someone else in the house. Don't know why, that's just the way it is : )

Q. Favourite AFL team?

The one that's losing.

Q. What is your favourite live music venue? Do you prefer small pub shows with a small audience or bigger shows with lots of people cheering you on?

Definitely small venues where I can really interact with the audience. My favourite? Not sure, probably the Swan Acoustic Lounge.

Q. What is your song writing process? Do you write the lyrics and music together or one first and then the other?

Generally I write it all together in one fell swoop. Most of my songs just pour out of me in the space of about an hour, but then, there are others that I walk around trying to write for ages before they come out right.

Q. What is your take on the Perth Music Scene at the moment? Do you think it is thriving or is it a bit of over-hype?

I think Perth artists are getting more attention interstate than in the past, but I haven't noticed live music taking over every bar/pub/restaurant. So I'm not really sure about that one.

Q. What plans do you have for the next few months?

I'm going over east to play a few shows with Kanvas Grey (a Melbourne band) in May which should be really cool. After that I'm not really sure, I'm thinking of touring overseas later this year or maybe early next year, so we'll see.

Interview by Justin Middleton, http://perthmusic.blogspot.com/