Done And Dusted

"People have a hard time categorising me artistically,” says Jane Dust. This strikes Inpress as something of an understatement, roughly up there with 'invading Poland was a bad idea'. Dust's peculiar – and peculiarly likable – brand of symphonic pop has its latest airing with her new album, Space Odyssey: Part 1, as wildly interesting a record as has been released all year. What's more, Dust's band, The Giant Hoopoes, is something of a supergroup, boasting Stu Thomas, Clare Moore, Will Hindmarsh and Louisa Trewartha, and would be worth the price of admission, so to speak, for this fact alone.

“Looking back on the albums I've made, it's easy to see why,” Dust goes on, continuing to explain her eclecticism. “I mean, who makes a tribute album to 1970's torch songs and then turns around and releases a space odyssey? Freaks like me, that's who! None of my albums have fit neatly into the rock, punk, indie pop or country genres. I don't fit into any subculture, but I do belong to a small group of musicians in Melbourne who are orbiting around their own planets, creating their own universes and bustin' the hip-and-shoulder move on static life-forces that get in the way. Alley Oop, Go Go Sapien and Dave Graney are fellow space travellers. No muther can pin down freaks like us.”

Sadly, the concept album is a rarer thing than it should be these days. In explaining what it was that attracted her to the idea, Dust makes it all sound so simple, kind of…

“I like stories. The whole galaxy is open to me and the freedom to make a space-themed symphonic album was there so I grabbed it. Besides, 2012 is ripe for a space odyssey – the universe is contracting and expanding and disintegrating and spewing forth. Heaps of crazy shit is going down.”

And talking of story, it seems that Dust's new album definitely has one, even if it might be a little complicated. Apparently, it's got something to do with the age-old dichotomy between vinyl and iPods.

“Space Odyssey Part I comes in three suites – Earth, Mars and Venus – and charts the narrative of a group of space travellers searching for a galactic space menace. I like the idea of a variety of songs following a trajectory and being thematically and sequentially reliant on each other – like the opposite of iPods. This is part one of my space odyssey. The complete odyssey will be released on double vinyl in 2014 and nobody is gonna be able to shuffle up/mix up that baby. They will have to listen to the tracks one after the other on each album if they wanna remotely understand what I'm banging on about... which of course they do.”

Concept albums in the past have been, well, over produced is a polite way to put it. But while Dust's music does sound gorgeous and shiny, she maintains that there won't be any dramas reproducing it at the Northcote Social Club for the launch. Providing, that is, you don't consider decapitation in any way dramatic.

“Casey Rice co-produced and engineered this record and made it sound as great as it does. I don't know how he does it. He'll be mixing at the launch so he'll be doing what Casey Rice does best – creating Casey Rice magic. Paul Kidney Experience are supporting and are fellow space travellers. Who knows what those cats are gonna serve up? The Hoopoes and I have got the string quartet onboard – there will be nine of us onstage letting peeps into our world for a small period of time, but they'll be lucky to leave the show with their heads still on their necks – we'll see to that. That is, if our heads are still on our own necks by the end of the show and we can still use our eyes.”

Jane Dust will be playing the following shows:

Sunday 28 October - Northcote Social Club, Melbourne VIC