For The Love It

It is not unusual for 19-year-olds such as Dominique Brown to hold music in such high esteem, yet few are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to inspire and comfort others with their own writing and performance. After signing to Decibel Records earlier this year, her and fellow signees Mansion, Alaska will launch their newly-recorded EPs as part of the Darebin Music Feast during the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Brown's close relationship with music has not always been so harmonious. She began piano lessons early under the tutelage of her grandmother, but the formal structure of the AMEB examinations didn't sit well with the roaming mind of a seven-year-old. Her reluctance to practise her scales was supplanted with a keen interest in listening to the radio.

A few years later, performance re-entered Brown's life. “It wasn't until I was cast in the lead role of the year-seven production that my parents began to take me seriously and I started singing lessons,” she explains. Eventually this led to a return of the piano, on which she started to write her own material, inspired by a performance of Death Cab For Cutie's Transatlanticism by Matt Corby during his stint on Australian Idol. “I moved from playing simple songs to writing simple songs with similar progressions.”

Now at NMIT, studying a Bachelor of Music Industry, Dominique's songwriting has been refined and may soon reach those outside of her immediate family. On a friend's suggestion, she applied to take part in the second year of the Decibels Records program, an initiative from the Darebin City Council that provides the opportunity for young artists to pursue a career in the music industry.

Brown's raw talent obviously impressed. “I actually auditioned with the four songs that are on the EP, and I was lucky enough to be chosen.” Since her signing she has received mentorship and funding to professionally record and promote her own EP. “If I hadn't had this opportunity, I would be writing songs at uni, but doing relatively nothing in comparison to this.”

Though the young singer-songwriter still felt some of the pressures of releasing an EP, she is relieved she had the support she did. “I'd be a nutcase by now, having to do the jobs of ten people,” she says. Though the Decibels team, including Jimi Maroudas and Greg Arnold, were heavily involved in the recording process, Brown maintained creative control over her powerful yet acutely sensitive songs. “I was able to get Tim Coghill, the drummer in Matt Corby's band, to play on the EP… and a friend of mine, Tom Hutchens, sings the male part for our duet on You're Killing Me.”

For now Brown is excited to showcase her songs live alongside Mansion, Alaska with a full band that includes Tim Coghill. “Outside of uni performances, I haven't had the chance to play my songs live, and now with the full band I can try to impress my friends and family.”