Big Scary
Album: Me and You
Release Date: 2022
Australia
Connection is the cornerstone of Melbourne duo Big Scary’s fifth album. In their explorations of love found and lost, longtime collaborators Tom Iansek and Jo Syme paint the varied textures of human relationships: grief, loneliness, hope and always, always love. [More on Guardian]
Lyrics: Lonely Age
Money is the key to the world
But you ain’t got any locks
No doors to open and enjoy your wealth
Friday night to feel alive
Move so fast the holes are plugged
With any luck you’ll sleep the weekend off
Little things tick in your mind
Looking forward to reward
Your phone, your hair, your lunch and what to watch
You can’t find it in your heart
Maybe check the classifieds
Just something to ignite your arse’s fire
With all that’s good
With all that’s here
It’s also not in reach
You’re tethered to a chair
Feel so cut out
A lost and little lonely age
Our lost and little lonely age
A lost and little lonely day
Money is the key to the world
But you ain’t got any locks
No doors to open and enjoy your wealth
Friday night to feel alive
Move so fast the holes are plugged
With any luck you’ll sleep the weekend off
With all that’s good
With all that’s here
It’s also not in reach
You’re tethered to a chair
Feel so cut out
A lost and little lonely age
Our lost and little lonely age
A lost and little lonely day
Tracklist: Me and You
1. “F. A.”
2. “Firefly”
3. “Asking Right”
4. “All the Pieces”
5. “Lonely Age”
6. “In My View“
7. “Goodbye Earl Street“
8. “Devotion“
9. “Real Always”
10. “You Won’t Always”
In an interview, Tom said, ‘There is much less ego in this band than there used to be’. It was not intentional that we picked a duet for our loop series but where does Lonely Age sit in Big Scary’s discography in terms of its significance for you as a duo?
For the writing session that led to “Lonely Age”, Tom and I were working as equals more than ever. It was a combination of things that caused it – I’d probably matured and was less self-conscious of what I previously thought was a lack of talent when it comes to writing… But I worked out that the problem isn’t that I’m bad at writing, I just wasn’t doing it! And at the same time, Tom was more excited to champion that Big Scary was about the music the two of us make together – it became important that we both contributed equally, for the music to be genuinely “Big Scary”. In the past, it was more Tom’s creative project, that I did drums for. But Tom has so many musical projects now, so the pressure for it to be his primary creative output has disappeared. “Lonely Age” was a sweet example of Tom helping me get over my lack of confidence – I wrote the bones and together we gave it shape and personality.
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind Lonely Age?
I’d been listening to a bit of Weyes Blood’s Titanic Rising, and also a lot of Burt Bacharach tracks, especially the Dionne Warwick tracks, so that’s where its nostalgic and romantic mood comes from. The story was sparked by an old housemate, who for a while seemed a bit aimless about what to do with their spare time, and work was the only thing moving them through the days. I think I was a little jealous, or bewildered because all I wanted was more spare time.
I know you both write songs and I know you both are fans of simplicity. In terms of your songwriting approaches, who are your literary inspirations if you have any?
I love referential art – songs that mention films, paintings that are a direct response to an earlier painting, etc. I am often immediately inspired by other lyrics, or enjoy dropping little lyrical quotes or hints, so my main literary inspirations are other musicians. Specifically, Sufjan Stevens, Courtney Barnett, and Elizabeth Fraser are some I’ve worked off. I’m not too sure about Tom but I know he’s dived into a book of Leonard Cohen poetry for inspiration from time to time!
The story was sparked by an old housemate, who for a while seemed a bit aimless about what to do with their spare time, and work was the only thing moving them through the days.
Jo on Lonely Age
One of my favorite questions for my favorite musicians: What do you listen to on repeat? What is your go-to music?
Ha, mostly what we’re working on to release on our record label – Tom and I created Pieater, along with our friend and manager, and so we have the great honour of sharing other artists’ work. And I listen to them all a LOT. At the moment it’s Maple Glider and Tom Snowdon.
Daisy and Me and You are almost only a year apart but they sound differently, and they hit differently. What made you go to Me and You’s a little more melancholic and acoustic and tender way?
They were actually written and mostly recorded at the same time – we had a writing trip that was just really fruitful, and we decided to complete everything we liked rather than discard any songs, and then afterwards we grouped them into these different albums based on what the songs already sounded like, or the themes. Daisy came out first – one arm of the output. It has more playful songs, and probably a more naïve perspective on relationships. Me and You is the body and soul of the work. You can perhaps guess that there is another limb in the wings for one day…
Thinking About You was one of our late friend Josh’s favorite songs that he shared with friends. Could you please say a few words about that song?
I’m so sorry you lost a dear friend, and I’m honoured that he shared our song with friends. It was a really, really early Big Scary song. Tom had an earlier version that was much faster, with different lyrics. And then one day he turned up to a jam and he’d slowed it down, with these new lyrics, that capture something about those uncertain teenage years – where feelings are big, and we floundered about in loneliness, but were so hopeful to make real connections. It was one of the first songs we mucked around with production effects, reversing the snare and kick drum for that drag effect.
