All That Shines

Tame Impala, born out of the terraced houses and backyard parties of our own inner city suburbs, is still probably the biggest psych band in the world. Don't let that obscure the creative environment that led to that fact, however. Kevin Parker and Jay Watson are just two parts of a wildly inventive and resourceful group of guys that have also given rise to Mink Mussel Creek, Pond and, in certain ways, equally glorious local bands like The Growl. If you live in Perth, chances are you know one of these guys, and the fact an eclectic wardrobe and big hair are almost prerequisites. Cue: “Shiny” Joe Ryan. Ryan has long been a member of those terraced houses and backyard parties, and his first solo release, The Cosmic Microwave Background, obviously hints at the same themes that make up Tame Impala's albums.

“I don't really know where the name came from, it just really seemed like a good idea at the time,” Ryan chuckles. “But I guess it's cool that it's an actual phenomena, so to speak. I don't know; I didn't really know what I was going to name it until the end. I heard the term 'cosmic microwave background' from somewhere. You know, there's always these big space conversations going on with us. I heard it, and I thought, 'Yeah, that's pretty cool,' so that's what it became.”

The album has definite ties to the reverb-and-distortion-heavy, epic psych-rock of the previously mentioned bands – as an oft-member of MMC and Pond, he can't really escape it. “It was really the first time I recorded by myself without the critical ear of Mr Jay Watson and all those other guys,” Ryan laughs. “They usually let me know if something's a bit too far-fetched, or just silly. Actually, I played Jay some of the songs I was writing, and he was like, 'Oh, I really like that song, why don't you write that for Pond?' I'm like, 'Oh, do you want it?' So he took my best two or three songs, but you know, they're going on a Pond album anyway,” he laughs again.

“It was something I wanted to do by myself, apart from all the other stuff. It's been a few years in the making. Five or six of the songs were written while I was in Berlin, but then I realised it was only half an hour long, so I had to write a few more songs. It's kinda written in two parts. The rest was pretty much written in Perth. I picked up a cheap upright piano and that's where most of the ballad sort of stuff came from. But you know, it was kinda written in between everything else. There was never really any rush to get it finished. I was really content to just walk away for a couple of weeks and come back with a fresh perspective, which meant a lot of the songs changed through the process. Some of them ended up entirely different, but I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out in the end.”