Second Skin out now through WMA/Mushroom.
The worlds of dance, jazz and pop don’t often intersect in contemporary music, but Brisbane chanteuse Katie Noonan is bridging that gap with her new album Second Skin.
Following a hugely successful 2007, during which she released her debut solo album Skin to both critical and commercial acclaim, the former George frontwoman has taken the road less travelled and interestingly returned with a dance remix release of her entire debut album. Collaborating with Electro Funk Lovers – aka premier Australian DJs John Course and mrTimothy – Noonan has delivered one of the surprise packages of 2008 so far with Second Skin.
“Initially I was like, ‘Oh, wow, that’s really leftfield, that’s not the kind of thing I’d normally think of’,” Noonan admits. “But they did a remix of [Skin track] ‘Time To Begin’, which went on the Ministry Of Sound record last year, and I was really happy with that mix. So that’s where the idea came from.
“Initially there was a hesitation just because the idea I guess didn’t come from me – most of my musical ideas just kind of form organically, whereas this idea was put together by someone else. But then I met the guys and we got on really well and I could see that they were really at the top of their field.
“They make really interesting dance music – I find it really musical and it’s also got its roots in the soul/Motown thing, which was a huge influence on [Skin] as well. So I thought it’d be a bit of fun to hear the songs go in this completely different direction than I would ever take them in myself. And that’s the joy of working with different musicians; I really enjoyed the process.”
While it proved a happy ending, Noonan admits that this most unexpected of creative marriages had never crossed her mind until now.
“Never ever,” she concurs. “I’m really into new ideas and I think it’s important to keep really open-minded and not be too precious about your music. It’s important to be proud of what you do, but I think it’s also good to get out of your comfort zone and work with people on ideas you would never have thought of.
“I think it’s really meant to stand apart because it’s so different to the original. The songs are the same, but there’s nothing from the original album on there except the strings on ‘Send Out A Little Love’. That’s the only thing that remained from the whole first album, and I redid all the vocals as well. So it really is a whole other body of work which I think stands on its own.”
Without concern about portions of her artistic vision being lost in stylistic translation, Noonan gave Course and mrTimothy complete free reign on Second Skin. “I kind of felt I really had to let most of that go,” she explains. “I’d made the record I wanted to make with Skin, I’d fulfilled my creative agenda with that record. So this was really a way of letting go – it’s a reworking by another artist of my material, but it’s really in their flavour. It is still my record in that it’s my songs and my voice, but the production of it is certainly not mine.
“So I was just happy to let the music go on a journey and see where it ended up; people were surprised that I was so not precious about it. But I’m totally just an instinct person and it felt right instinctively, so that was what I was mainly trusting.”
Noonan and her newfound DJ accomplices are tentatively making plans to do a handful of DJ/live club performances to support Second Skin’s release. The singer says she’s excited at the prospect of performing in this format.
“We’ve just talked about it as a concept, it’s not anything definite,” she says. “But I’d love to – there’s a certain electric energy that you get at those big dance events.
“To me, music is just music, and the older I get the genre becomes less and less important. It’s just about communicating, no matter what format it’s in really.” While it proved a happy ending, Noonan admits that this most unexpected of creative marriages had never crossed her mind until now.
“Never ever,” she concurs. “I’m really into new ideas and I think it’s important to keep really open-minded and not be too precious about your music. It’s important to be proud of what you do, but I think it’s also good to get out of your comfort zone and work with people on ideas you would never have thought of.
“I think it’s really meant to stand apart because it’s so different to the original. The songs are the same, but there’s nothing from the original album on there except the strings on ‘Send Out A Little Love’. That’s the only thing that remained from the whole first album, and I redid all the vocals as well. So it really is a whole other body of work which I think stands on its own.”
Without concern about portions of her artistic vision being lost in stylistic translation, Noonan gave Course and mrTimothy complete free reign on Second Skin.
“I kind of felt I really had to let most of that go,” she explains. “I’d made the record I wanted to make with Skin, I’d fulfilled my creative agenda with that record. So this was really a way of letting go – it’s a reworking by another artist of my material, but it’s really in their flavour. It is still my record in that it’s my songs and my voice, but the production of it is certainly not mine.
“So I was just happy to let the music go on a journey and see where it ended up; people were surprised that I was so not precious about it. But I’m totally just an instinct person and it felt right instinctively, so that was what I was mainly trusting.”
Noonan and her newfound DJ accomplices are tentatively making plans to do a handful of DJ/live club performances to support Second Skin’s release. The singer says she’s excited at the prospect of performing in this format.
“We’ve just talked about it as a concept, it’s not anything definite,” she says. “But I’d love to – there’s a certain electric energy that you get at those big dance events.
“To me, music is just music, and the older I get the genre becomes less and less important. It’s just about communicating, no matter what format it’s in really.”
Second Skin out now through WMA/Mushroom.
