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Interviews
October 2007
Linda Utting, 24 Hours Toronto (Canada)
"In Australia she's already made a career on the folk festival and folk club circuit. Here in Canada, she says, it's like starting fresh. 'I can't rely on my reputation - the music must stand on its own'."
September 2007
Peter North, Edmonton Journal (Canada)
"Chloe Hall is an Australian on her way to Nashville, but today the singer-songwriter is enjoying her introduction to Canada. This road trip... builds on her well-crafted third album White Street."
August 2007
Mikelle Sasakamoose, Kamloops This Week (Canada)
"Like in Canada, there are huge wide open spaces in Australia with not that many people, so you get a sense of that space in the music..."
August 2007
Teresa Mallam, Free Press Prince George (Canada)
"From down under to up north, Melbourne-based singer songwriter Chloe Hall will bring her contemporary folk music stylings to Prince George this weekend. On her way to Prince Rupert Tuesday, Hall took a moment to pull over for a lunch break and an interview with the Free Press. The artist is on a cross-country promotional tour for her third album White Street, just released in Canada.."
September 2006
Shane Worrell, Moreland Leader
"Hall is back from a three-month tour of Australia with a new enthusiasm for raw folk music."
March 2006
Warwick McFadyen, The Age/Sydney Morning Herald
"What [Chloe] has done is create an album as warm as a summer's night and as earthily woody as the deep roots of an oak... Hall writes with insight of the everyday life and the events and emotions that transcend their surroundings."
March 2006
Charmaine Camilleri, Fairfax Community Newspapers
"[Chloe Hall] has one of the strongest new voices in contemporary Australian folk music. Her new album, White Street... highlihgts her best music yet."
March 2006
Julia Irwin, Northcote Leader
"Writing music for film and television is Chloe Hall's bread and butter but her first love is crafting and singing her own material"
May 2000
Anthony Horan, Inpress
"Chloe Hall's debut White Sky is... resolutely independent, it's loaded with strong, memorable songs and recorded with intelligence and insight"
October 2007
Linda Utting, 24 Hours Toronto (Canada)
Aussie Folkie Discovers Canada
In August, Australian folksinger Chloe Hall and cellist James Hazelden flew into Seattle, picked up a touring van and headed to Vancouver -- where they blew their entire accommodation budget on a cello. Since then, they've been staying with other musicians, at venues and camping their way from B.C. to Ontario.
This is Hall's first touring venture (she's staying three months) and she's found it quite "humbling" -- in a good way.
In Australia she's already made a career on the folk festival and folk club circuit. Here in Canada, she says, it's like starting fresh. "I can't rely on my reputation -- the music must stand on its own."
Her love for Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Leonard Cohen is a big reason why she came to Canada -- after hearing their music she said, 'I've gotta go there!'
Hall, 34, started on the folk circuit at age 17 as a solo act still "writing straight from the heart."
She signed her first recording contract with Shock Records seven years ago. "White Street," released in 2005, is "about home, identity and being comfortable in your own skin," says Hall.
Her new album, yet untitled, will be about "change and travelling."
Inspired by Canada, she's planning to return next year on
the back of a U.S./European tour. Then she's headed on a two-week road
trip down the Mississippi river and then to Nashville to mix the new unplugged
album.
Hall and Hazelden perform songs from "White Street"
and her new album on Monday at Hugh's Room as part of "Discoveries"
-- a showcase for up-and-coming musicians. Showtime is 8:30 p.m. and tickets
are $13 advance, $15 at the door. Visit www.chloehall.com.au for more
information.
September 2007
Peter North, Edmonton Journal (Canada)
Singer switches her sights from the Southern Cross to northern lights
Chloe Hall is an Australian on her way to Nashville, but today the singer-songwriter is enjoying her introduction to Western Canada's scenery.
As a teenager, she routinely romanticized about Canada as she listened to recordings by Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen.
"The great thing is, everything is meeting my expectations," laughs Hall, who has had the good fortune to nab some choice gigs in stunning settings in B.C.
After playing dates on the Gulf Islands, Hall landed in the beautifully restored Ashcroft Opera Hall, played a date in Prince George and backtracked for a show in Prince Rupert.
Travelling with a number of friends from Down Under on a journey dubbed the Southern Cross Tour, Hall pulls into Edmonton Friday to play the Blue Chair. This road trip, which will also take her to Eastern Canada, builds on her well-crafted third album White Street.
"Similarities between Canada and Australia include strong singer-songwriter and festival scenes. And we're used to travelling long distances between shows," laughed Hall, who entered the the coffee-house circuit in Melbourne 14 years ago.
Joining her on the road are cellist James Hazelden and fellow
songwriters Emaline Delapaix and Anita George.
"Early on, I was fortunate to get some direction and encouragement
from established artists like Judy Small even though I was writing these
rambling songs with no choruses."
A few years later, she got the chance to turn out songs
for television dramas, where her writing skills quickly sharpened.
"Writing songs for television is very specific in terms of subject
matter, tone and time," says Hall, who has since built binding choruses
into songs like Fall For You and Without You that are found on White Street.
Hall picked the right musician in Hazelden to work with
in a duo context.
"I love the cello and James's playing can be mellow or melancholy.
James comes from a rock band background and he can add an edge to songs
or a get into double stops and add a more percussive sound."
Hall's tune How Many Roads seems to have hit a collective
nerve with Canadian audiences.
Hall and friends will play three sets at the Blue Chair
on Friday starting at 8 p.m.
For ticket information, phone the cafe at 989-2861.
August 2007
Mikelle Sasakamoose, Kamloops This
Week (Canada)
You might be Canadian if you’re not afraid of bears and you listen to lyrics.
Australian folk singer Chloe Hall said since she started a Western Canada tour, that’s what she’s noticed most. “We’re so careful about bears,” she said with a nervous giggle, noting fellow headliner and Aussie Anita George wants to get a bear bell.
Joining the two adventurous songbirds on tour is ex-pat Emaline Delapaix.
“There’s quite a difference in the type of folk music happening in Canada and what’s happening in Australia,” said Hall.
“That’s why we brought ourselves together, because we all represent very different aspects of that folk music movement.”
George is rootsy and blues-based, while Delapaix is a fusion artist bringing together elements of cabaret and jazz.
Stuck in the middle with them, Hall is straight down the line contemporary folk.
“I’m more of a singer-songwriter,” she said.
“My focus is absolutely on the songs and they’re very lyric and melody driven.”
So it was to her delight, after performing a few warmup gigs around B.C. she discovered Canucks love lyrics.
“[Canadian] audiences seem really attuned to lyrics, and I’ve been really touched actually with people coming up after shows asking me specifically about lines in songs... and I certainly don’t get that attention to detail in Australia,” said Hall.
Like the wildlife, she said she’s just starting to get a sense of what music north of the 49th parallel is like.
“I think there is an element of French and American music here,” she said, noting in Australia there is more of a world-music element.
“But, like in Canada, there are huge wide open spaces in Australia with not that many people, so you get a sense of that space in the music.”
Tonight at 8 p.m., the Aussies in B.C. will be at the Ashcroft Opera House.
All three women will perform separately and then together to showcase the different aspects of Australian folk music.
During her set, Hall will be accompanied by cellist James Hazelden.
“The cello in folk music is an unusual combination,” noted Hall, who plays an Australian Maton guitar.
“But the thing I love about James is he doesn’t have a classical background and he’s actually in quite a well-known rock band in Australia, so he’s brought a lot of edge and energy to the music.”
Tickets are available at the door.
A buffet dinner is at 7 p.m. and costs $18.50, GST and gratuity not included.
For more information, visit www.chloehall.com.au, www.emalinedelapaix.com, www.anitageorge.com.au, www.ashcroftoperahouse.com or call 250-453-9009.
August
2007
Teresa Mallam, Free Press Prince George
(Canada)
Aussie singer has walked many roads
From down under to up north, Melbourne-based singer songwriter Chloe Hall will bring her contemporary folk music stylings to Prince George this weekend. The Australian musician renowned for her beautiful voice and unique song stylings will perform along with cellist James Hazeldon at Artspace above Books and Company on Sunday.
On her way to Prince Rupert Tuesday, Hall took a moment to pull over for a lunch break and an interview with the Free Press. The artist is on a cross-country promotional tour for her third album White Street, just released in Canada (it came out in Australia in 2006). Along with the title track, the new CD includes songs like Amy, Fallen Angel Boy, How Many Roads, Just the Way You Are and Without You - all penned by the singer.
"This is a CD release tour. The reason it was delayed coming here - I look on the cover and I can't believe it says 'recorded in 2005'- is because my mother died last year. So it was a very sad time for me and just naturally put off the release of the album."
One of the songs, Fall For You, came out of Hall's work with dementia patients.
"I used to work for the Alzheimers Society in Australia so I talked with a lot of people whose partners had dementia and it was interesting the similarities of their stories and how difficult it was to stay connected in order to care for them. They all had key parts of life, times to remember - the same as any relationship - like the early days of courtship. In the old days, that usually meant the dance hall and the music. So this song came out of that."
White Street features Hall on vocals, piano and guitar with Anita Quayle on cello and other musicians playing violin, viola, 12 string guitar and percussion instruments. After hitting the stage at Artspace this weekend, Hall heads for Ashcroft, B.C.
"I'm going to play the opera house there, I think that's so neat. We will be touring for three months in Canada, going to Vancouver Island and Alberta. Then we finish in Ontario. After that, we're heading to Nashville where we'll be mixing a new album, similar to the last one with acoustic instruments - I love the wood, natural sounds of acoustic instruments."
Hall has played music all her life, from her early love of Irish folk music as a teenage troubadour, open mic nights in Melbourne to stages on the Australian folk circuit during the 90s. She studied voice and composition at the Conservatorium, Melbourne University and since then has built a career as a contemporary singer songwriter.
Music critics say she's "built a reputation for her stunning voice, beautifully crafted songs and warm heartfelt performances." She has performed in venues from pubs to folk clubs to major festivals and events.
"I think we [she and Hazelton] bring a unique energy to our shows. Some of our songs are very moving - but we're always in the mood for fun. I'll be playing one of two guitars and singing of course. Audiences seem to enjoy listening to us and have a genuine appreciation for the music."
How do our Canadian audiences compare with Australian ones?
"It's a little early to say," she said, "because we've just started the tour here but so far, everyone has been really friendly and there is a real [music] culture and love of music here."
Australian singer songwriter Chloe Hall and cellist James Hazeldon perform Sunday, August 19 at Artspace above Books and Company. Tickets $10.
September
2006
Shane Worrell, Moreland Leader
Folk singer returns to her acoustic roots
A Sunday afternoon at the Brunswick Hotel is an ideal setting to enjoy the emotive songs of acoustic-backed folk singer and songwriter Chloe Hall.
Hall is back from a three-month tour of Australia with a new enthusiasm for raw folk music.
After a 10-year career that saw her gradually head in an electronic direction, Hall's 2005 release White Street was a return to her folk roots, a style she said was more reflective of who she was. "Folk music is about people and communities, about storytelling and shared experience and the more I learn, the more I want to discover," she said.
Hall said her songs were honest reflections set to warm, gentle acoustic sounds, adding: "I only write songs when I feel something deeply. That's probably why they can be intense at times, because that's how I feel them."
Hall will perform with cellist James Hazelden, who accompanied her on the national tour, as part of the Whole Gamut Acoustic Music Club from 3pm at Brunswick Hotel, 140 Sydney Rd.
Also playing on the day are Raelene Bruinsma and Three Piece Suit. White Street is available through One Tree Hill/Shock Records.
March
2006
Warwick McFadyen, The Age
Pretension stripped bare
A late night epiphany has transformed a marketing executive into a stylish product of her own, writes Warwick McFadyen.
THE child looking out from the CD cover has piercing, intelligent
eyes. Her hair is windblown. She has the air of someone just about to
tell a joke or say something profound.
Flip the CD over and it’s the same person almost 30 years down the
track. Her eyes still have that flame of life, but she’s wearing
a broad smile. And so she should.
The person is Chloe Hall and her album, White Street, has 11 good reasons
to be happy. They’re her songs and, she says, they reflect who and
what she is.
"It’s the first album that feels really honest," the Melbourne
singer-songwriter says."It represents what I’m doing."
What she has done is create an album as warm as a summer’s night and as earthily woody as the deep roots of an oak. It may take people familiar with her earlier work by surprise.
Her debut White Sky in 2000 was praised, but the songs mutated
from acoustic to electronica, which felt right at the time for her, but
now seems wrong.
Hall, 32, while not regretting the work, sees that album as "trying
on some other things. Electronica seemed right at the time, and being
someone else".
Since then she has discarded the electronics for the acoustic guitar and
piano. Whereas she felt like someone else on Sky, on White Street she
feels herself, and stays true to her craft. There is no mask.
"The line between me as a person and me as a performer is pretty
fine," she says. "I don’t really have a stage persona."
White Street is pretension stripped bare, though without
the anxiety of then parading her soul in public.
The songs, created on guitar and piano, are filled with the intimate sounds
of the cello, violin, viola, bass and percussion. Hall writes with insight
of the everyday life and the events and emotions that transcend their
surroundings.
An Irish melancholy drifts through the songs, which is not
surprising. Although she was born and raised in Melbourne, before that
her parents had lived in Kenmare, County Kerry, an area of Ireland known
for its beauty. She grew up surrounded by the music of the Chieftains,
Planxty, Andy Irvine and Mary Black.
When she went to Ireland as an adult "it felt so much as where I
had come from. The first pub I went into a lot of the women looked like
me".
She speaks of the "beautiful ache" of Irish music, which can
stir her when she listens to it, especially the sound of the uilleann
pipes. She also speaks admiringly of the voice of Dolores Burton, of the
Cranberries.
A life in music, however, has not been a surety for Hall.
First, there was the paralysed arm with which she was born, but which
came good with treatment. Then, there was the money trap.
Although she says music has been her passion, there was a time as an adult
when she entered the corporate world thinking, "I could quickly get
enough money together to do an album and put a website together".
To her consternation, she found she was actually good at what she was
doing — media marketing — and began to climb the ladder of ambition.
The music started to become a hobby rather than her life. Her epiphany
came late one night working back to meet a deadline. She saw a businessman
in a suit carrying a trophy of a businessman in a suit. She realised,
"This is so far away from what I want to do".
With it came the thought that "everything I was doing somebody else
could do, but with music I’m the only one who can do what I’m
doing. And I do have something to say and something to offer".
After high school Hall enrolled in music at the University
of Melbourne, specifically to study composition, but that subject was
in the course’s second year. To get there she had to study an instrument
in her first year and she took on the voice — an operatic voice,
no less.
She freely admits she is the world’s worst opera singer, but she
got through to the second year only to find that the composition course
wasn’t what she was after. She dropped out and went on the folk circuit,
where she found her real voice.
Her determination can also be measured in that she has set
up her own record label, One Tree Hill Records, on which White Street
was recorded. Shock Records handles the distribution.
Shock also helped introduce Hall to writing as a discipline. It came in
the unlikely form of the Saddle Club series. She has written songs for
four Saddle Club albums, three of which have gone gold. It’s an exercise
she takes seriously.
"I feel really responsible about it because it’s for kids,"
she says."I wanted to make sure they were strong words that would
make you feel good about yourself."
Hall has enough material to record a new album, which she
hopes to have completed this year. She also hopes to tour Canada after
a national Australian tour.
She knows that as a performer on the folk circuit, she is ploughing a
very small field in a very small market. But "if I wanted to make
money, I wouldn’t be doing music. As it is, I’m doing it because
I love it".
Chloe Hall performs at the Brunswick Music Festival on March 31. The festival runs from today until April 9. More than 80 artists from Australia and overseas will take part, including, from overseas Dick Gaughan, Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine, Harry Manx and David Francey; and, from these shores, the Pigram Brothers, Dave Graney, the Band Who Knew Too Much, Fiona Boyes and Stephen Cummings. Full festival details: brunswickmusicfestival.com.au
March
2006
Charmaine Camilleri, Fairfax Community
Newspapers
Music dream fulfilled
Singer-songwriter Chloe Hall always dreamed of making
her mark in the music industry.
Growing up influenced by 1960's Irish folk music
and cool Bob Dylan tunes, she scrambled lyrics together.
"Musicians would have sessions in my parents' barn in Ireland in
the '60's" she recalls.
"[My parents] fell in love with Irish folk music and it stayed with
them when they moved to Australia."
Nowadays, the self-managed artist has one of the strongest new voices in contemporary Australian folk music.
She hit the music scene in 2000 with a seven-track
CD, White Sky, which earned her glowing reviews and a nomination
for Best Unsigned Artiste at that year's Music Industry Critics Awards
in Adelaide.
"I wanted to be a musician from as far as I can remember. I understood
music and loved it from an early age," the Northcote resident says.
Hall is set to entertain in an intimate acoustic performance at the Brunswick Music Festival.
Hall was always ambitious.
She first strummed a guitar at 16 and soon scored gigs at open-mic nights
at folk and acoustic venues across Melbourne.
In her 20's, she hit national and Melbourne folk festival circuits. And
in 2002 she released a self-titled EP.
In the middle of last year, Hall established the One Tree Hill record
company to ensure "creative control" of her work. Her new album,
White Street, in stores now, highlights her best music yet, says
Hall, who admits facing rejections in her musical journey.
"I feel fortunate... it's a hard road, but it's a beautiful one,
too."
There's certainly no looking back at the realisation
of her destiny.
"It's my life. It's what I'm living and breathing for."
March
2006
Julia Irwin, Northcote Leader
Chloe's sound is white and warm
Writing music for film and television is Chloe Hall's
bread and butter but her first love is crafting and singing her own material.
The Northcote resident has just released her second album White Street,
a follow up to White Sky.
"White St in Reservoir is where my grandmother lived and White
Sky was an electronic album and the title referred to the colour of
the sky," she said.
The contemporary folk album features Hall's warm vocals and guitar, Anita
Quayle on cello, Louise McCarthy on violin, viola and backing vocals,
Greg arnold on bass and James Richmond on percussion.
Hall said she had been a musician all her life, making
up songs as a two-year-old and winning her first songwriting award at
14.
"I work full-time as a musician, which is a tricky path," she
said.
"I've had two songs selected for the upcoming Australian feature
film Caterpillar Wish and contributed to five albums for the ABC
show The Saddle Club and to Holly's Heroes (Channel 9)."
Hall will sing and play songs from her new album at the Brunswick Music Festival on March 31 at the Brunswick Mechanics Institute on the corner of Glenlyon and Sydney roads before beginning a national tour with cellist James Hazelden to launch White Street.
The CD is available at record stores nationally.
For more information and Hall's tour dates go to www.chloehall.com.au
May
2000
Anthony Horan, Inpress
Hall of Fame
Chloe Hall has managed to make an exciting record in a genre dominated by followers, Anthony Horan discovers.
It sometimes seems as though the world is saturated with singer-songwriter records, and it’s easy to be cynical about most of them. Every so often an artist will bring the full force of the personality in to the studio and craft a unique, groundbreaking record. And then three or four dozen others around the world will use it as a blueprint for their own musical efforts. Every vocal and arrangement nuance is carefully replicated, usually at the behest of a record company that wants a piece of the action and a public that wants more of the same. Attention-grabbing singer-songwriter outings are thin on the ground these days, and it'’ not entirely surprising that many of the best examples of the genre are found in the independent sector. Melbourne-based Chloe Hall’s debut White Sky is one such record – resolutely independent, it’s loaded with strong, memorable songs and recorded with intelligence and insight. It’ll hold strong appeal to those who like Tori Amos or Sarah McLachlan, but it doesn’t particularly sound like either of them. Which is, of course, a good thing.
The woman behind the evocative, cinematic songs on White Sky is, as it turns out, a songwriter of some experience, though the warm, atmospheric electronics that permeate the record arrived much later.
“I started writing songs when I was about two or three years old,” Chloe reveals. “There are these really bad cassette recordings of me in the car, singing about the moon and the stars while we were driving through the country. I’ve always sung as a way of expressing myself – I don’t know what I’d do without it, actually. It’s gotten me through a lot of stuff.”
Having spent a few years playing the folk festival circuit, Chloe began to think some kind of new approach to her music was required. Hooking up with producer, engineer and musician Drew Stansbury, she started work on a solo record that would capture her songs inside more forceful band arrangements. Nothing surprising there, of course – it’s a natural path for a solo artist to take, bringing straightforward songs into a studio environment and expanding them. White Sky, though, would take nearly two years to complete.
“Initially we were making an indie-pop record – that raw sound, acoustic guitars, kick and snare and not much else,” Chloe explains. “that was cute. We’d pretty much done the whole record like that, and it sounded nice and sweet and everything. Then Peter Luscome came in to play on White Sky and did this incredible drum track. We were about six or seven months in, and all the musicians had come in and done their stuff. Then Peter played on the track, and Michael Allen came in and did the throbbing bass-line on the song. And Drew and I looked at each other and realised we were going to have to start from scratch.”
Version two of White Sky made the extended effort more than worthwhile. Warm, richly textured and refreshingly devoid of cliché, its seven songs explore wildly different styles but are brought together by consistently strong melody and the unique sound world created in collaboration with US producer-engineer Jonathan Burnside. And yes, that’s the same Burnside who produced Grinspoon’s current album.
“He came to Australia because his children live here” explains Chloe. “He was just wandering around, getting a feel for Melbourne, when he walked past Eskimo Productions, where we were recording the album. And he just knocked on the door, believe it or not. He met Drew and they hit it off, and when Drew played him some of my stuff he really loved it and offered to help out. He came in for the week of mixdown, and that was it. Drew and I had been working together solidly for two years, and then Jonathan came in and did a lot of mixing. You need someone for a mixdown who has fresh ears – we were too close to it , and we needed a fresh approach. He helped tighten it up.”
With the record finished and out in the world, Chloe is perfectly fired up about the prospect of jumping right back in for more – she has, in fact, recorded three more songs for use on a possible wider release of White Sky. After two years of extreme patience, it seems the fire has been lit.
“It’s hard,” she says of the self-promotion process, “but it’s the most rewarding kind of work, because you really believe in what you’re putting out there. I can be absolutely exhausted from recording, but I still feel really satisfied. Just being noticed is nice – and what’s really lovely is that now I’m not getting a lot of people who don’t return calls, all that sort of stuff that I’ve had before. People are really excited about it. It’s been quite an expensive exercise, but I’d prefer to have my first album than, say, a deposit on a house…”
Chloe Hall plays next Wednesday 24th May at The Continental. White Sky is out now, and will be available at the show.