Kirsty Tickle has an already established music past – she’s one half of the noise act Party Dozen, and she’s been a touring member of The John Steele Singers, Parades and Henry Wagons. She’s got the obvious and well-approved chops. Now, it’s her turn with a solo project that features production so mechanically interesting, you’ll listen to it over and over to follow just a single instrument. She’s named herself EXHIBITIONIST and well, very honestly, she’s here to show it all off.
‘Hands’ is her first single and makes great use of the pure lush quality of her voice: it’s clean, clear and holds a great depth. As she sings she trails an excellent range, exploring all the peaks that her voice can reach – the simple way she sings ‘could’ turns it into a sentence of its own. But it’s not only her voice that makes the track an absolute must-listen. The production itself is remarkable, it’s a grab bag of influences that intrigues – the drums are two-step garage played live which itself is turning a genre on its head. They are much slower than their legendary UK counterparts and are often swamped by the heavenly synths and appearances of horns that sound as Exhibitionist’s voices glides over it all.
It’s obvious from Tickle’s past in Party Dozen that she knows how to deal with the intricacies of a lot of sound and it shows. ‘Hands’ is chockfull of conflicting instruments and influences but they are all working together, in a style of her own.
With ‘Hands’ being the first single of Exhibitionist, it’ll be exciting to see what she continues to put out – her skill as a multi-instrumentalist is obvious and her traditionally wispy voice, while great in depth, is similar to the more favoured style among electronic artists. Yet, it’s the combination of production, both live and electronic that will definitely shine.
'Hands' was produced by Tickle and Jonathan Boulet in Marrickville, Sydney and is out now through TEEF Recordings. Keep updated with Exhibitionist on FB and Soundcloud.
Words by LLOYD CRACKETT
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