Photo Credit: Shahane Bekarian
Sydney’s Donna Amini has just released her phenomenal second studio album, Other People.
The release of Other People demonstrates a beautiful evolution of Amini’s style as a songwriter. As she charts course for the embrace of a new creative era, this is the type of album to reposition her clear and proven songwriting skills in front of audiences new and long-standing alike.
An album about behaviour and the human condition, Other People outlines a unique set of observations and perspectives. Amini is wonderfully experimental with her lyricism, exhibiting an incredible ability to take her audience from light to dark in a heartbeat, and then back again. At times, her writing is detailed and vivid in nature; at others, it is playful, minimal, and almost childlike, diverting more attention towards the instrumental aspect of the song. In both spaces, though, she never fails to capture something poetically visceral, in a way that is sure to linger in any listener’s mind.
“The title ‘Other People’ relates to the false idea that we are somehow separate from others. And how questioning other peoples’ behaviour, is really holding up a mirror to our own. The entire album is an abstract presentation of how we look at the world through the lens of our own personal culture and traumas. But as a body of work, I’d say it’s a collection of songs that are cutting, full and direct.” DONNA AMINI
Featuring previously released tracks like ‘Suburban Surf’ and ‘Big Machine’, the two songs Amini developed and released prior to 2020, Other People represents a sonic and artistic peak for the Sydney songwriter and performer. The album’s lead single ‘Pilots’, released earlier this month, was dropped alongside a visually stunning music video directed by Shahane Bekarian and filmed in Sydney, at Good Loco in Marrickville.
“Shahane Bekarian directed a music video for a friend’s band, which I really liked. So I contacted him, and we got to work with a concept. Mostly it was going to be me dancing. Very choppy editing and black on white contrast between costume and background. He did a great job, and it suits the song.“ DONNA AMINI
The process of creating Other People involved collaborating with a variety of talented individuals, each of whom undoubtedly brought their own spark and expertise to the end result of Amini’s sophomore album. Other People was engineered and recorded by Amini and Nathan Sheehy; the bulk of the record was mixed by Tobias Priddle, with additional mixing by Sheehy (‘Suburban Surf’, ‘She Said’ and ‘Pilots’) and Wade Keighran (‘Big Machine’).
Album Artwork by Waldemar Kolbusz
The sonic nature of the record finds a stunning balance between hard-hitting percussion, enchanting raspy vocals, and Amini’s signature 90s-alt-rock style guitar fuzz. Along with Amini’s own skilful musicianship, the album features instrumentation from Nick Collerson (drums), Jon Zion (bass), Tobias Priddle (bass – ‘Love Me’, ‘Ghost’), Scott Leishman (bass, ‘Hell’) and Wade Keighran (bass, ‘Big Machine’). Also featured on the track ‘Bowie’, is instrumentalist Glenn Sarangapany (Birds of Tokyo).
“The process was a long one. I first recorded the album live with a full band in 2017, but didn’t feel that the result was close to what I had envisaged the work to sound like. So I started again, recording all the guitar and drum parts at home and replacing them later at a studio.
“After that it was a matter of filling the songs out with synths, effects, solos and bass parts. And of course the vocals all had to be recorded in a clean studio environment. The process of recording this album was similar to my first album. The songs were built up and moulded over time. It took a long while, but I didn’t stop working on them till they sounded exactly how I imagined them to. “ DONNA AMINI
PRAISE FOR DONNA AMINI
“Fierce and fiery, this one feels like it’s made for a movie.”
Sara Glaidous, triple j Unearthed
“I feel like it’s the kind of song where you might be out at a bar and you hear this voice in the corner singing. And suddenly whoever you’re with, it just goes silent, you just tune your ears straight to that corner. It’s really moody and cool… I heard it the other day on triple j Unearthed radio and it just caught me hook line and sinker.”
Declan Byrne, triple j
“Tune and a half. It bristles with an energy akin to many moody ‘90s alt rock heroes.”
Dave Ruby Howe, triple j Unearthed
“There’s this smouldering rumble that rests just beneath. This is very compelling – you’re bound to stick around.”
Claire Mooney, triple j
OTHER PEOPLE is released THURSDAY 30 NOVEMBER
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