Tyne-James Organ has released his brand new LP, Necessary Evil into the world. And after the craziness of the year that was 2020, an album which wrestles and dances with the concept of necessary evils couldn’t have come at a better time.
We were lucky enough to steal a quick moment with Organ, allowing him to walk us through the new album for our Track by Track series.
On the album’s title, Organ says that it was initially inspired by a conversation with his mum, he said, “I take a lot of inspiration from my mum and her words. We were talking about cars at the time and the shit show they are but then, as always, the conversation went into love, death, pain and all things emotional. It really stuck with me. It wasn’t until I went to the Blue Mountains on a writing trip with Chris Collins mid-2019 that the title came back to me.”
Organ’s Necessary Evil is almost like an admin reveal of his most real self, while representing a spine-tingling range of emotions and dynamics, from a triumphant or jubilant moment, to an introspective and tender one the next, all the while weaving in and out of the juxtapositions of grief and pain, power and passion.
If you need us, we’ll be here revelling in the brand new album at the absolute maximum level possible. But don’t let us tell you about it, check out what Organ had to say on each song below.
STRANGER
Stranger came about on a writing trip at the Grove in June 2018. It was the first day there and my first time ever going to a writing camp. I was very nervous. I was paired with Caleb Tasker and Shannon Fowler. We started the session with Shannon laying down some drums on logic and then I added a few chords in. From there we just started fleshing it and moving quite quickly. The chorus melody and lyrics came, and the rest fell in around that.
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We had a whole day to work on it and by the end of the night it was done. The song explores a post-relationship between two people who once were inseparable to now strangers. It intrigues me how we can be so close and know everything about one another and then feel like we never knew them in the first place. Once I took this song to Chris Collins it was time to get it into the album world sonically, but we didn’t do too much. There’s a Reece Witherspoon vocal sample in there from the movie Cruel Intentions which was ironic and sounds sick the way Chris warped it.
SUNDAY SUIT
This was one of the last sessions I did before COVID first hit with Gab Strum and Lachlan Bostock in Melbourne. We had such a fun day writing this one. I remember when we had a break for lunch, we were sitting in a Japanese restaurant talking and laughing about everyone going crazy buying toilet paper. Little did we know it’d run out in the coming days.
I had the chorus and a few moments running in my head on the days leading to the session and we were able to add on them and focus on the structure. I ended up back in the studio for a day with Gab during the midst of COVID, but when there was a gap that allowed me to travel, and I finished writing the second verse to add that in. I have a weird habit of the second verse being the last thing I write on most of my songs haha.
Sunday Suit is all about dancing away your troubles. In the nude. But alone so it’s not creepy lol. But bringing it to life visually I didn’t want to sing the words ‘dancing naked’ so I thought a Sunday Suit could be a nod to that. Whether anyone will get it I dunno, but I’ll tell ’em anything they need to know so they do. This was such a fun one to record with Chris.
I bought a Casitone 601 keyboard right before I left Melbs and we plugged it in with a few of Chris’s guitar pedals and made some of the intro sounds on the song. This is one of my favourites on the record and I’m very excited to play it live.
OVERTIME
What can I say about this one. Overtime is the late-night whiskey drunk song. Only because that’s exactly what it was. Chris and I had been working on some of the songs for the record back in December 2019 in his old Alexandria studio and I was in a weird headspace at the time. Drinking way too much. I was sad and stressed with a lot going on in my life. In all areas too.
Whilst Chris was tweaking some mixes, I sat behind him jamming on this one. Specifically, the chorus. Chris really dug it. So we worked on it for a few hours. Very raw and simple ideas but a strong approach. But in the headspace I was in which Chris can read very well, he saw I needed a break from the studio so we decide to go to the pub, drink more haha and then go bowling for a few hours. Man was I pissed by the end of that.
It was about 12ish when we stumbled back into the studio with only the intentions to get our stuff and go to bed, but we ended up staying a little while longer and the song was done. I think this one hit me hard because all the lyrics came from me running scenarios and outcomes in my head. I wrote this all in a guess, which a few weeks later turned to be word for word what happened. Very strange, but amazing that these things can happen in life. I love the subtle country approach it has too without trying. We kept all the vocals from that demo and that’s now what you’ll hear on the record.
Sometimes perfect isn’t the right thing for a take, but the raw emotion is.
NOT READY FOR LOVE
Another one from the writing camp back in 2018. This one was from day two and I was paired with Joe Mulholland and Sam Phay. We were writing in the main control room at the Grove which got me in the swing of it from the get go – even though I was a bit dusty from the night before. We sat there for a bit at the beginning just chatting and then I threw a little idea I’d had to work on. It was a very basic chord progression and then a few opening lines. Sam and Joe vibed it so we started mucking about with it. What a time it was.
I think the beers came out very early this day from memory haha. Jol was tweaking the production side and adding some wild synth parts and Sam and I were workshopping some lyrics and melodies. When what is now the chorus came into the mix it was purely a pre chorus, but the melody just felt so strong it was hard to top and take it up a notch for what I was thinking would be the chorus, so we left it as is. So glad we did that. The title pretty much sums this one up, however some people do assume it’s about me not being ready before they listen. That’s definitely not the case haha. I wish it were though.
It explores that moment of taking it on the chin and just trying everything to understand. We’re all on our own journeys and everyone will come into things like love at their own time. Tracking this one was a bunch of fun. Chris ran the session and George engineered at Parliament Studios. I got my best mate and band member Andrew Banovich to lay down the drums. Been such a treat to hear this one all over the radio this summer.
BETTER THAN THIS
This was a fun one to make and my first time working with the M-Squared duo. Great dudes with a shit load of energy haha. I can’t remember the little studio dogs name, but it was a sausage dog and having her on my lap most of the time really added to the mood. We spent two days together and this was the track we made on the first day. It’s the big anthem, this one. Lots of Springsteen was on our minds whilst creating this one. And that’s part the reason why I love it so much.
It’s its own thing but with nice moments of artistic influence in there. The story tells one of a crumbling relationship and that moment of reflection. We all want better and more but sometimes the reason things fail is because we just stop trying. I think this one will be a blast to play live and get everyone singing the ‘woahs’!
HOLD ME BACK
‘Hold Me Back’ came to life in 2018 on a random rock at the south end of Maroubra Beach. Chris and I were sitting there to have a write, but first we just got chatting about life. A story about my first night in Melbourne in November 2017 came up. It got me riled up immediately. We both honed in on this energy and let the song do its thing. We made a few little videos on the rock before heading back into the studio. Once we were back the song was pretty much finished an hour or so later. We just dug right in.
We kept a lot of the original recordings and George Georgiadis played the drums. This one killed me to sit on for the amount of time we did, but I’m glad it got to see life in May 2020 as the first single from the record. It’s a hard topic to talk about especially as a white male outsider but I just spoke exactly what I saw and felt. The song is about the first night I had out after moving to Melbourne. I was out in a decent sized group with people I’d only just met, having a great time.
A man approached the girls I was with and immediately became aggressive and gross towards them. Even after being told no numerous times, he kept persisting. It was quite obvious how uncomfortable he was making them, and it really made us mad. We got him kicked out instead of doing anything stupid, but when I got home, I dwelled on the situation a lot and my anger came out. I wanted to kill him for the way he disrespected these women. Lyrically the song is about everything I came to feel and wanted to do, but in the moment, something held me back.
LONDON’S CALLING
This song went through about 10 different versions. All of which sound completely different to the other. But they all had something special in them. It took time to find the perfect approach but after many of back-and-forth moments we got it there. I wrote this one in Jan 2018 with my dear friend and last housemate Luke Rundle. He originally showed me a beat he’d made, and thought could work in my world of writing. It had a cure vibe to it but I think what really reeled me in was the fact it was based around 2 chords. My favourite.
Luke and I have made music together and I was fortunate enough to write and feature on his EP ‘Blame My Soul’ with the title track. Luke’s a great dude, a heap of fun and blast to create with. The dude has ideas to everything. You should hear the TV show he wrote haha. As soon as we wrote it, I wanted to play it live but had no time to show the band, so I made an acoustic version and started playing it on tour and at festivals.
Oddly enough it became a crowd favourite for my intimate moment in the set. When it came time to approach the recording after so many changes Chris and I thought a blend between my acoustic version and some driving moments would be best. We got it there and I’m really excited for people to hear this one. It took me longer to name the song than it did write and record so I guess I can’t complain at all there haha.
HEAL YOU
This is a very special one. It’s haunting, real raw and honest. This is one of the few songs on this record which comes from an observatory point of view. It’s about a very dear friend of mine and the events that surrounded it. There’s nothing worse than seeing someone you love hurt. As selfish as it feels to say it hurt me seeing them hurt. This one fell out in a very short amount of time, but like a lot of my other songs the second verse was written sometime later.
Actually, this one specifically was finished a year to the date later as I needed another conversation to round it off. It’s a hard one to talk about as I don’t want to go into the story or person whom it’s about but all I will say is they are doing so much better now. I wrote this one in Blackheath which is near the Blue Mountains in an airbnb called ‘The Nook’ in 2018. Chris and I went up there for 3 days writing and wow that was such a special time.
It was a very significant time for the album as a whole. It’s where the second bit of the album’s title came to life at a cafe down from where we stayed. We were surrounded by nature and a shit load of the blue mountains. We cooked and drank a lot of Guinness and had an open fire in the house every night. And one outside on one of the nights too. A funny thing about this one was when we first rocked up and set up the gear to record Chris’ midi keyboard was cooking out and not working. To the point that we both got so frustrated and nearly put it back in the car for the trip.
Out of nowhere it came on and Chris was playing the chord melody. It struck something in me immediately and we just fleshed it out. The choir harmonies came first followed by the heartbreaking approach to the vocal melodies and lyrics. But none was done with intent only emotion. This is another one where pretty much 90% of what you hear in the recording is from the very first demo. Striking gold from word go is one of my favourite things about creating and if there’s anyone, I feel it will happen with its Chris.
BURNING DESIRE
Day 3 of the Grove writing camp saw me paired with Will Cummings (Lanks) in a one on one session. Having written “I’ll Get By” from my Persevere EP with Will I knew this session would be a treat and one that would pull on the heart strings. Especially mine. We were put in a random room at The Grove where I think they do like a school or something.
Anyway, it was a bit strange and classroom like but we sat down and got chatting. I was at a place during this time but specifically this day where I felt I was at the last bit of a chapter in my life. I think from writing Stranger and Not Ready For Love on the days before this was my closing piece to this chapter. I write in chapters. Weirdly the album isn’t just one chapter, but this song is a closing part to one of them. Hopefully that makes sense.
I’d been out of my last relationship for nearly two years, and this was like the last hoorah. The missing piece if you will. If you listen closely to the lyrics throughout there are moments like in the second verse where I say, “I’m ok, but I still check your profile everyday.” At first, I thought maybe not but it’s honest and we all know we’ve been there haha. When the day was done, and this song was finished I had an emotional moment on first listen which brought me to tears but not sadness.
For the first time in two years, I felt a sense of clarity around the situation and finally felt like I could let go. Only catch was I would fall for someone only months later and be back in square one hahaha. We went into Parliament Studios and Andrew Banovich played down some stunning percussion across the track. There’s a piano moment in the second verse which is my favourite thing in the whole song. And when the second verse initially kicks in I dunno why by my mind takes me to the Lion King ahaha. Maybe it could soundtrack something Disney.
GRACEFUL
The first piece of the puzzle. I wrote this song in early 2018 when I was put in an evening session with Chris Collins. I knew who he was but had never met him. Safe to say neither of us were excited as he’d just finished up recording an album down in the Snowy’s and I’d had a massive night at a party the night before. Both of us wanted to cancel but for some reason we didn’t.
Whatever reason we didn’t cancel has been one of the best decisions and things to happen to me in my life. Not only did it open up a creative friendship that in the space of two years has seen us write multiple songs but also make an EP and an album together. Very lucky. But this particular night we both got in and as miserable as we were we got things going very quickly. Chris had a sick drum loop going and as usual for me I started playing with a two-chord progression. The song came out very quick.
I’d hated being in Sydney since 2017 and this was one of my first times back and Chris’ studio was actually around the corner from where I used to live which was a bit of a trip out to be back so close. I instantly felt like I could open up with Chris and be real with what I was feeling. That’s not something you come across every day.
As soon as I’d left the session that night, I knew I’d made a very special friend, but I must’ve listened to the demo about 30 times on my way to Wollongong and then when I got home, I made my mum and our dog Nigel sit in my van for the listen. I knew there was something in it. I added the second verse in a few weeks later and the song was done.
NECESSARY EVIL
The little outro lullaby. The first ever instrument I was given by my dad was a Ukulele back in 2009. I was 14 years old, man did that little thing open my mind to the world of music. I named him Mr Uka-Puka-Luki (god knows why lol) and started strumming. After a few months my confidence was boosted by how easy it was to play and I thought I’d try move up to the guitar. It was a bit trickier at first but then became everything.
In the 12 years since, I’ve not played the Ukulele as much as I’d wish (Vance Joy’s fault haha), but I knew it was something I wanted on my first record. I wasn’t sure how and didn’t put too much pressure on myself about it.
In Melbourne’s first lockdown last year I spent a heap of time playing with it again and found a few cool char progressions. Then one night I was playing in my bath and the melody you now hear popped in my mind. I recorded it on my phone but again didn’t over think or sit on it too much. Once the record was done, we had a week of mixing and it wasn’t until one of the last days where I decided to lay this one down.
I wrote all the lyrics in a very short time and didn’t think about them too much. Weird approach for me but it felt right. I recorded it on Chris’ balcony in Stokers Siding overlooking the most beautiful bits of nature and Mount Warning in the distance. You can hear some of the birds singing with me.
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