Winner: Megan Washington "How to Tame Lions"
23 year-old Melbourne-based singer/songwriter Megan Washington is a something of a rarity – a trained and talented musician inclined toward exploring something deeper.
As a spirited, creative child, Megan Washington danced around her Papua New Guinea lounge room to the sound of MGM musicals while the sounds of the jungle drifted in through the windows. The wildness of animal and human nature is an influence that’s still making its presence felt into her music.
Though the youthful girl who arrived in Brisbane at age twelve had not yet expressed an interest in music specifically, she loved to dance and act under the influence of Cyd Charisse, Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, who were perhaps her earliest idols. She didn’t begin studying music until her final year in high school, but once the blue touch paper had been lit, her love for music became overwhelming.
She studied composition at Queensland’s Conservatorium of Music, a degree “which I barely passed,” the artist admits. Washington moved to Melbourne, dossing down in ‘ghetto places’ with a volume of Edgar Allen Poe. “I love that dark stuff, the dark but beautiful old worlds. I’m interested in beautiful trash.”
Appearing on stage with a large number of very different artists, like the Bamboos, Ben Lee, Camille, Tim Finn, and Old Man River and a series of random collaborations with the likes of Woody Allen’s New Orleans Jazz Band, Washington began to determine the path of her own career as a songwriter. She’s not interested in being pigeonholed in one genre, and her work crosses a number of styles, from country and folk to more complex song structures reminiscent of Kate Bush. Her influences range from Paul Simon to Billie Holiday; Leonard Cohen to Radiohead.
It’s not only her gift for telling stories that’s appealing. It’s the young singer’s considerable musicality and her songwriting that distinguishes her from her peers. From the complex idiosyncrasy of her arrangements to the devastating content of songs like her debut self-released EP ‘Clementine’. Washington won a spot on the Big Day Out bill through the Triple J Unearthed contest, and ‘Clementine’ stuck fast to the Australian indie-charts for three weeks, proof of her early growing stature as an artist.
Washington is a spinner of tales, teller of stories that create a world within a world. “I really love Lou Reed,” says Megan. “It’s very real – you could disappear into that world. I love albums that don’t just conjure up images, but locations, and people, and places – people like Danny Elfman. There’s a world in that stuff.”
One of her songs, an audience favourite, is based on a true story about a German woman who visited the same ape at Berlin Zoo every day for eight years. Eventually the gorilla began to consider her his ‘mate’ and one day leapt over the walls of his enclosure to embrace her, breaking many bones in the process. “In my version,” says Megan, “she dies. Of course.”
Even as she readies her first full-length album for a 2010 launch, Washington has just readied her second EP How To Tame Lions which is to be released in September. The EP is a stand-alone work of 5 tracks, each of equal merit. So much so that it features two A-side singles, ‘Cement’ and the lovely ‘How To Tame Lions’. The former is already clocking up airtime with Triple J.
“The new EP an examination of relationships – every song is about relationships of different kinds. The songs are also about frustration and animalistic behaviour, and the way people are genetically programmed. For some, it’s all about the chase. I love stuff that’s specific but universal.”
Independence is something that Megan holds dear to her heart. Evidenced in the two EP’s (and work-in-progress album) featuring mainly herself and producer / friend / comrade John Castle playing a majority of the instruments. To bring their sometimes dark, always interesting and unique studio work to life however requires an exceptional collection of musicians. ‘Washington’ is the live vehicle used to interpret these works and is meeting of minds between some of Melbourne’s finest musicians. All part of a local Fitzroy scene.
At a recent show at Sydney Opera House Washington showcased material from the upcoming debut album to a sold-out room. Most revealing however were the guests who joined the band on stage for the performance – ranging from some of Australia’s jazz greats to a young singer songwriter Megan encountered on a ‘terrible dinner date’. Megan draws inspiration from many sources, and likewise many are inspired by her. A true artiste with global potential. How To Tame Lions is the start of something very special.