Australian band Little May have been gaining a lot of attention and their debut album is sure to find them a lot of new fans.
The trio of Annie Hamilton, Liz Drummond and Hannah Field, along with their band comprised of Cat Hunter and Mark Harding traveled to Hudson in update New York to record the record with producer Aaron Dessner from indie band The National.
Part of the album was recorded in the main hall of a former 19th century church, while the remainder of the album was completed back in Dessner’s garage in Brooklyn.
The finished product ‘For the Company’ is eleven tracks of enchanting and atmospheric folk pop. Lead single ‘Home’ is a catchy tune that mixes serious versus with bright uplifting chorus, the track really takes the listener on a journey. While the other ten songs have a great range of engaging sounds.
Liz Drumond from the band said the creation of their debut album was a very natural process.
“It was awesome, it was a dream to work with Aaron Dessner from The National, we had an awesome time making this album.” Drummond said. “It was a very natural process.”
Drummond said the multi-instrumentalist from The National was always the name at the top of their list of dream producers to work with and the band were excited when they found out he was available. The band first thought of Dessner when they heard his production work on Local Natives sophomore album ‘Hummingbird’.
Drummond admits that at first the tight time limit to record the record made her nervous but in the end the pressure of a deadline worked in the bands favour.
“Initially I was a little bit scared about the time limit we had to do the album, but I actually think it worked in our favour this time because it just kind of pushes you to get it all done and not worry about the little things that you might normally hold on to.
“I find when you make music sometimes you can lose perspective if you have too long to hold on to things, so I think a little bit of pressure was good for us.”
The three piece band are a tight knit group having first met in High School.
“I met Annie in early high school, and then I met Hannah when I changed to another high school. We just became really good friends and started jamming together. It was all friendship.”
Drummond said while other bands come together via auditions and looking for certain skills Little May came together because of friendship.
While the band are quickly gaining a loyal following in Australia, they’ve also been warmly received in the UK where they’re singed to the iconic Island Records label. The band have recieved a lot of airplay on the BBC which Drummond said was amazing.
To accompany the albums release the band have also launched an art show. Drummond said that recognising and supporting other art forms is central to the trio’s creative approach.
“We’ve got eleven different artists who have all done a different piece of art work, one for each song on the album. Eleven tracks and eleven arts works.”
“Annie is an artist, and she’s always done all our design work and I think, as we get a bit older, it’s more and more a part of what we do. I think it means a lot as well, it makes so much sense to link up with other art forms.”
Drummond said the band are excited about getting on the road and sharing their latest music with audiences and their about to play a string of dates over the next few months including a festival appearance at Southbound in the new year.
The band will be back in WA in the new year for Southbound, while their debut album will be released on October 9th.
