Second Nature

"There are so many festivals these days – some of them really work and some of them don't seem to work as well. But I don't think there are any rules, like, some of the bigger festivals are great and some of them just don't feel so great to me, but in an environment of so many festivals it's awesome to have something like this that's just so different to all the others, and the boutique, intimate, small crowd, beautiful forest setting, all those things are just perfect for that.”

Husky Gawenda is quick to sing praise for A Festival Called Panama, the newest outdoor musical experience on the Aussie festival calendar, one which has sidestepped the standard locations of racecourses and football stadiums for something a little more real. His namesake band Husky are just one of the choice acts that will be plugging in beneath the canopy of Lone Star Valley – a pure part of the country situated in Tasmania's green north-east reaches – for a capped crowd of 1000. The Melbourne group are eager to soak up the natural beauty, chilled atmosphere and enjoy a few choice small-batch ciders, brewed directly on-site.

“It just sounds like an awesome, really unique festival and we were in from the beginning,” Gawenda beams. “That's exactly the sort of environment where I feel our music comes across really well – it will be conducive to people being open to music and excited by music, and with a small crowd like that with a festival like this, it will be the sort of environment where people in the audience, the punters, will be looking out for each other and feel like they're in it together. I just imagine it will be a really nice vibe.”

After introducing a few new songs to audiences while supporting City & Colour last year, Husky will be using their slot at A Festival Called Panama to showcase their forthcoming second record, which they've been crafting in Christmas Hills, Victoria, in addition to sporadic studio sessions in Melbourne and Sydney with producer Wayne Connolly.

“But even though we're recording in different places [though] there are a lot of constants like the instruments that we play, our voices, all those things,” Gawenda clarifies. “We're not worried about cohesion or anything like that, and it's kinda good to have different environments to work in and be inspired by, to have slightly different moods.”

Even with these varied backdrops though, fans of the folk group will be happy to know that the frontman is digging into his soul once more with this new music. Like Forever So, these are intimate songs from a personal place, with Gawenda letting his life stories drift through the air gracefully and with ease. However, they come stage-ready as well, because after touring that debut album right around the world the band have learned what it's like to live with a record and let it a be a part of them.

“I think that influenced the way I wrote the songs and also the way we recorded them to a certain extent,” Gawenda ponders. “I don't know if it's so conscious but somewhere in your mind you've got that consideration, and I don't think that's a bad thing because the record [and the stage], I think they need to go together, and it's a beautiful thing when you find that right balance.”

In terms of writing their new album, however, it hasn't been that much of a different process for Husky. Gawenda says the release is a progression, yes, but he's not sure how to describe it. When a band is immersed in a record, a lot of times it's hard for the individuals involved to see thing from the outside in and talk objectively. But as long as they can push through the final stages of the album, “which some say is the hardest”, he laughs, we look set to share the rewards together soon.

“Finishing off anything is difficult,” the frontman levels. “When you're doing the first 80 per cent you know in the back of your mind what you're doing is not final, you've always got a chance to change or improve something. But that last [bit] when you're really finishing it off and you know it's final, that can be a little bit difficult. And we're slightly bad decision-makers in the first place – we think things through a little too much and we're probably all perfectionists – so it's tough to finish things off. But we did it then and we'll do it this time too, I hope.”