Mornington Peninsula-based four piece Façades are reeling from the release of their new album Catalogue Ambitions, one we promise you’ll thoroughly get lost in.
Eager to dive into the release even further, we reached out to lead singer and guitarist Matt Harrison. He was more than happy to run us through the record, one story at a time.
Spun the new record from Façades yet? Spend some quality time in Catalogue Ambitions with frontman Matt Harrison.
Catalogue Ambitions
I had this acoustic picking progression that I wanted to use at some point, and I realised it would work well as an intro track for the album. The lyrics try to sum up the negative culture of constant advertisement and convenience that seems to exist at the moment.
Am I Ready
This was the first single of the album, released with a music video on YouTube about a year ago. It’s probably the most instrumentally diverse song on the album, introducing lots of synth and keyboard sounds, as well as drum machines and vocal effects that we hadn’t used previously. The lyrics describe the context of my life at the time, and the aspect of self-doubt in the music industry.
Can I Come Over
I wrote this song for my girlfriend Emily. It talks about how we met, and got to know each other. I tried to reflect those positive emotions in the instrumentation and chords. I think it’s definitely the happiest and cheesiest song on the album.
A Sly Illusion
I was trying to be more honest and to speak more plainly with my songwriting when this song came about. It’s another acoustic guitar driven song, with a focus on telling the story of my ambitions in the music industry, and again how self doubt can affect them.
Fall In
We wrote this song to a loop we had made, which we tried to keep the essence of in the final cut of the track. It’s a slow building one that has a big moment of electric guitar towards the end. That end moment is definitely the highest dynamic point on the album.
I’ll Be Fine Here, That I Know
This song has a more electronic sound than the rest of the album. It’s designed as a bit of a break in the middle of the album, and a chance to take a breath and reflect. For me it was about reflecting on a religious upbringing, and coming to terms with leaving that behind. It’s a theme that definitely dominates the second half on the album.
Exit Light
This is the most heavily rock-inspired song. There’s lots of distorted guitar sounds, and bass guitar and drums also take a front place in the mix. The lyrics are about trying to empathise with people who may be going through a tough time, and trying to be there for them.
Kiss and Tell
I got my good friend Taylah Carroll in to sing with me on this song. She has a beautiful voice that I knew would suit it really well. The song talks about a lot of themes surrounding romantic relationships, and shares some of my opinions on the subject.
When Borders Close
I wanted the words to be the focal point in this song. It was written after listening to a lot of Leonard Cohen. I love how he was able to write honestly about often heavy subjects. The instrumentation revolves around the acoustic guitar, and slide guitar, with some trumpets coming through at the end.
Conversations
I think this is the oldest song on the album, I wrote it quite a few years back. It has themes of resolution and hope which I wanted to be the ending note of the album. The synth bass returns as a featuring part of the instrumentation, along with the driving drum beat. Lachy played the drums loud on this one.
Catalogue Ambitions is out now.
