Magic Happens

6 March 2013 | 6:45 am | Ben Preece

"The reaction you have is a physical, organic, visceral experience that is occurring from soundwaves and you’re changed for it. And you’re spinning out because of it – it’s a beautiful thing that keeps this music business world spinning around. It still is mystical to me and I fucking love the shit out of it!”

Western Australia's Mama Kin – born Danielle Caruana – only released her debut album, Beat And Holler, in mid-2010 and is already back with a second, intriguingly titled The Magician's Daughter. When beginning work on album number two, she not only indulged in a bit of soul searching, she completely overhauled her entire project, her way of thinking and even the way she writes her music.

“Probably about a year before I really earnestly got into writing this album, I hit this wall of not wanting to write the way I wrote Beat And Holler,” Caruana openly admits. “That record was so personal and so the album I needed to write at the time – I needed more tools in my kit, so I did a songwriting course and it just opened up some many new avenues of writing approaches. It was really liberating and brought on a deluge of tips. That was an exciting tipping point and then I was going to start recording and I was just picking on everything and thought, 'You know what, I'm wiping the table clean.' I went to my band and told them, 'I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know who I will be recording with and I don't know what I want my band to look like afterwards.' All I know is that I needed to go on a bit of a discovery mission and I might see them on the other side, I might not. They, in their supportive wisdom, wished me luck and sent me on my way.”

Now with something of a liberating and creative license, Caruana went on a journey to discover the right collaborators – writers, producers, everyone. She landed with producer Jan Skubiszewki (Jackson Jackson, Owl Eyes, The Cat Empire), took completely raw songs into the studio and crafted them as they went along.

“I'm in such a different place with The Magician's Daughter to the one I was in with Beat And Holler,” she explains. “I'm in such a different place with the way I feel as a person, the way I am as a musician, how my creativity is and the role it plays in my life. Someone recommended Jan to me and we walked into the studio in Melbourne and the creative chemistry was instant. We got absolutely sloshed in the studio that night and by midnight we were amazed by how great the first track sounded. It was very instant and the process was such an amazing thing.”

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Mama Kin's connection to her family is one beyond the depths of the human condition. She's one of six born of Maltese descent with a mother, an actual magician's daughter, for whom her second album is named. In a post-World War II Malta, Kin's grandfather was a professional magician and her mother was his assistant. However, despite this rich heritage in magic, Kin herself knows no tricks of her own.

“Oh, no,” she shouts, laughing. “I'm the clumsiest magician you've ever seen. What I do believe in is alchemy and emotion – I've experienced it going to a gig, that thing where you walk into a room, watch these three/four/five people make a variety of sounds and words in melody and it's as much of a magic trick as my grandfather used in the day. The reaction you have is a physical, organic, visceral experience that is occurring from soundwaves and you're changed for it. And you're spinning out because of it – it's a beautiful thing that keeps this music business world spinning around. It still is mystical to me and I fucking love the shit out of it!”

Mama Kin will be playing the following dates:

Thursday 7 March - Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane QLD
Wednesday 13 March - Lizotte's, Kincumber NSW
Thursday 14 March - The Basement, Sydney NSW
Friday 15 - Sunday 17 March - Blue Mountains Music Fesival, Katoomba NSW
Saturday 23 March - West Coast Blues 'N' Roots, Fremantle WA
Thursday 11 April - Northcote Social Club, Melbourne VIC
Friday 12 April - The Loft, Wanrnambool VIC
Wednesday 17 April - Lizotte's, Newcastle NSW
Friday 19 April - Civic Hall, Mullumbimby NSW
Saturday 20 April - No. 5 Chruch St, Bellingen NSW
Sunday 21 April - Pelican Playhouse, Grafton NSW
Thursday 30 May - Fly By Night, Fremantle WA
Friday 31 May - Clancy's Fish Pub, Dunsborough WA