Husky

George Orwell said that writing should be transparent – like a clear window pane,” says Husky Gawenda, frontman of four-piece band Husky from Melbourne, Australia. Gawenda feels the same way about music. “You shouldn’t notice the music or the art of it; you’re just transported to another place.” Husky the band includes folk-inspired Husky Gawenda on vocals and guitar, Gideon Preiss on vocals and keys, Evan Tweedie on vocals and bass, and Luke Collins on drums and percussion. Even though they have varied musical backgrounds, a love for classic pop (Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, The Doors and The Beach Boys), rich harmonies, and artful songwriting is the common thread that draws them together.

2011 is Husky’s year. After winning Triple J Unearthed, the band continues to reach new heights, winning hearts with every sold-out show around the country. Recent performance highlights include supporting Devandra Banhart, Noah and the Whale, Kimbra, Jinja Safari and Gotye. On 21 October, the band’s anticipated debut album Forever So will be released.
To bring Forever So to life, Gawenda and Preiss pulled together all the old recording gear they could get their hands on and set up in a bungalow at the back of Gawenda’s house. “The backyard was overgrown with weeds and wild mint and the bungalow was full of junk,” Preiss says. “We spent all night watching videos online about how to sound-treat rooms. We partitioned off parts of the house where we recorded the vocals and instruments.”

After months of crafting songs, they headed to LA to bunker down with Noah Georgeson (Devandra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and The Strokes) at House of Blues Studios to mix the album. “Mixing in LA with Noah was an amazing experience,” Preiss says. “The recording had been such a labour of love, and we had grown so attached to the songs, it was difficult to imagine handing them over to someone else to mix them. But Noah’s sensibility and musicality really complimented the songs.”

The result is a lush collection of songs that echo the classics they grew up with, full of haunting lyrics, rolling rhythms and delicate layers of sound. For Gawenda, when it comes to writing, a song can appear from anywhere. “Generally something comes to me out of the blue – a line, a melody, a chord progression.” he says. In terms of lyrics, a kind of ghostliness imbues the poetry of the songs. “Forever So recalls times gone by, dreams, and people who are no longer in your life but still exist in your memory.” - Facebook page