Katie Noonan is one driven woman. She’s passionate about making music. So passionate in fact that since first hitting the Australian music scene as the lead singer of George in 1998, Noonan has a staggering nine full-length albums under her belt either with George, Elixir, as a solo artist… and she even has one she recorded with her mum.
Now Noonan is on the brink of a new release. She has a new band, The Captains, and they’re ready to unleash the amazing mix of songs that make up their new album The Emperor’s Box. The sound is unmistakably Noonan, a gentle old school jazz crooning over superb melodies yet with some lush, slightly industrial sounds wrapping up the rhythms beneath.
‘It’s kind of returned back to that edgy, organic band sound and that’s really what I’ve been wanting to do,’ Noonan told OUTinPerth in an incredibly brief interview that took place in Kings Park, the wind whipping around her mane of fire red hair. Her plane was late, bumping the interview back, but that’s ok… it’s easy to forgive someone like Noonan.
‘It takes a while to find the right collaborators and… I finally found the right musicians that I wanted to collaborate with again, because what I had with George was so special and so unique and it was a wonderful time for me and a wonderful sense of synchronicity amongst the five of us, creatively. Sometimes you only get that once in life, but luckily I’ve found The Captains and I feel a similar sense of musical synergy.’
The new album is a homage to collaboration. It not only captures the intricacies of a new band working together in a seamless fashion, but features some amazing Australian talent. The likes of Tim Finn, Sia Furler, Don Walker from Cold Chisel and modern pop romantic Josh Pyke all lend Noonan a hand, helping write a song or lend their voice. Even acclaimed poet Ton Shapcott pens a song for The Emperor’s Box.
‘These things just happen when they’re meant to happen and they happened to just all happen at the right time,’ Noonan explained. ‘I just said happen a lot…’
Noonan produced this record with Nick Didia, Grammy Award-winning rock specialist responsible for shaping the sound of Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, Stone Temple Pilots and Powderfinger. But ultimately, she is proud that all the decisions to shape the record came from her personally.
‘My main motivation as a performer was always just to create honest music and sing from the heart and try not to disguise myself and just be myself as much as possible. Sonically, I’m very happy because I think it’s the best record I’ve ever made and I’ve changed a lot in my life.
‘All the decisions behind the music came from me, which has been challenging and kind of stressful but also incredibly rewarding because all the decisions I think I’ve made the right ones and I’ve just followed my instincts and learned to trust myself more and stick to my guns and kind of reclaim the wheel of the ship. And I’m sailing with the captain.’
Nautical allusions aside, Noonan has yet another flawless opus to add to her ever growing canon. But what is most striking about Noonan is her strength: she is a woman with conviction. She is determined. She is certain. Yet underneath all of that, she knows what music should – and always will – do.
‘For me,’ she concluded, ‘music is a genderless thing; music is about freedom. It doesn’t matter what gender you are, whether you’re gay or straight or whatever, you’re just communicating with other people.’
The Emperor’s Box is released April 9 through Sony Music. www.katienoonan.com
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
