Mia Dyson has much to celebrate. Her fourth LP 'The Moment' has been met with universal acclaim and rave reviews (especially from us), she's embarking on a big Australian tour and she's even cracked the ARIA charts this week! With so much happening for her right now, we were very excited to steal some of her time and chat about 'The Moment,' the tour and beyond. Enjoy!
MIA DYSON
Q. New album The Moment has some fist-pumping, sing out loud anthemic numbers like 'When The Moment Comes,' and beautiful bluesy ballads like 'Dancing' and closing number 'Two Roads.' So much of your own personal experiences must go into your songwriting, but do you find it easier to write more upbeat songs or those that will become your quieter tracks?
Mia: I find it easier to write the ballads…somehow the melancholy comes more naturally to me!
Q. What's your favourite track from The Moment and why?
Mia: I think the track I’m proudest of is ‘Jesse’. A woman approached me after a show a few years back with this story. She was pregnant as a teenager in the late 60s and was coerced by the social workers and her parents into giving up her baby, even though she didn’t want to. And it turns out there’s a lot of women who endured the same thing in that era. It took me a long time to write this one, as I felt the gravity of the heart ache that these mothers and children face.
Q. Your voice has seen you heralded as one of the finest blues singers to emerge from Australia over the past decade. Which singers have influenced your own style and who are your favourite vocalists in music today?
Mia: Definitely Lucinda Williams and Bonnie Raitt, but also people like Gillian Welch and Neko Case, Tom Waits. Lucinda has to be my fave.
Q. You've got a huge list of Australian tour dates announced, including a spot at this year's Brisbane Festival in the Spiegeltent
on September 13. What do you love most about performing live and what
do you love about performing in front of your Australian fans?
Mia: I
love being in the moment in a song, just feeling truly alive. It’s
fabulous to be coming back to play for Australian fans – the people
who’ve stuck with me all this time.
Q. Enough about Australia, tell us about America! It must have been a huge
change going from Torquay to California. What will be the greatest
lessons you'll take away from the time you've spent recording The Moment in America? Have you been to many gigs/festivals while over there?
Mia: America
was an adventure – tumult and triumph. The greatest lesson was learning
to listen to my intuition. If I heed it, it never leads me astray. I
got to play at many American festivals and see much of the incredible
landscape. From Portland, Oregon to Nashville Tennesse and San Diego California to Portland, Maine.
Q. Once you've completed the Australian tour, what's next for Mia Dyson? More festivals, more touring, more writing, a trip back to the State and then the UK in 2013. 7. You're going on a road-trip! What albums do you have to take to make the trip awesome?
Mia:
Lucinda Williams – World Without Tears
Chris Whitley – Living With The Law
Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
The Band – Music from Big Pink
Tom Waits – Mule Variations
Q. What are your music guilty pleasures?
Mia: The Darkness.
Mia: ...it can take me out of my small mind and into possibility.
Mia Dyson's incredible new album, The Moment, is out now! What are you waiting for? Go and get it!
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