As we raved just last week in our piece on the six local records you should be listening too Mark Zito, aka Fractures, lives up to the promise on his debut EP set by last year’s string of excellent singles.
Our writer gushes; “Fractures features last year’s now-familiar stand out singles ‘Twisted’ and ‘Cadence’, but importantly, it doesn’t lean on them as crutches. Newer cuts like the anthemic ‘Won’t Win’ and ‘It’s Alright’ are just as polished as their predecessors, with Zito’s milky vocals and lyrical narratives once again sounding beautifully compelling over his crystalline, smoothly-delicate production.”
Needless to say Zito has provided an impressive first offering. But what does the man himself think of the seven-track EP? He gives us a track-by-track run down on the recording process, what inspired the songs and just how it all fits together.
Embers
This and ‘Twisted’ are probably two of the oldest tracks and this would still have to be one of my favourites. I have no idea how it came to the end point, the weird harmonies and all, but I’m not complaining. I shed a single tear every time I sing it live.
Cadence
This is perhaps the furthest left-field tune as far as the style of the EP is concerned. It made sense in the chronology of my single releases, but isolated it’s maybe not a track you’d think would sit well with the others, but it somehow is cohesive. The keyboard intro riff was the first idea that got the ball rolling, then came ze drums and it suddenly felt sexy. And I made it so. The first melody I was trying to work with was very different indeed and the lyrics were appalling so persistence is definitely a key.
Won’t Win
Single number… three. It was perhaps a bold call to lead with this for the EP, but it encapsulates a lot of what I enjoy in music. The electronic elements. The space and simplicity. The live band and the big finish. All boxes ticked. It’s a relatively simple tune in every aspect – very little ambiguity within the lyrics – and maybe it makes it easier to digest, but at the same time it made each element more integral on its own, because if one wasn’t up to scratch it would stick out like a proverbial sore thumb.
It’s Alright
This one spawned from me attempting to make film-score music, with the Frac-dog flavour obviously. The song is a loop of four chords basically and was a practice in restraint. It took every ounce of my being to stop myself from going for the big outro and I think the payoff is there. It’s a song about someone yielding to pressures placed on them with the narrator bookending with ‘It’s Alright’. Basically saying ‘calm down you idiot, stop being pushed around. Idiot’. But in a nice way.
Twisted
This it the song that STARTED IT ALL. Number 1 in Yugoslavia and the Republic of Congo, I believe. This was my first dalliance into fully-fledged electronic territory. Basically born of my mashing of a keyboard until a beat popped out and a baby song was born. The emphasis was on arrangement and I’m not sure I’ll ever be that diligent again. I surprise myself listening back with the effort I put in to a lot of the nuances – the backing vocals, stops, holds and the overall space. Good effort, Mark.
Mortal
The most personal song on there. This was written pretty shortly after my GrandPa passed away and while I wasn’t necessarily that close to him I suppose it ‘put things into perspective’. And having said that, it was one of the quickest songs I’ve written from start to finish, lyrically at least. Again, not a great deal to it. Block chords mashed for the entirety of the song with the dynamics lead by the instrumentation. It’s a song I don’t necessarily love to play live but I am told by a few people it’s one of their favourites.
Unwind
Lucky last. This was a late inclusion on the EP. Written quite late in the process with me thinking it might hang around until a full-length release, but it squeezed in and I think it was quite timely in that I might have fallen out of love with it had I waited any longer. Sparsity is the operative word here. I resisted the temptation to clog up the air space with anything that wasn’t essential and let the lyrics do the talking. Or the singing rather! Excuse me. My first tempo change within a song too. Boxes are being ticked constantly. It’s a fitting closer to the EP and a sign of things to come I’d say as I’m definitely keen to mix the electronic and live elements a lot more in future releases.
Upcoming Shows
Fri 25th July | Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay *SOLD OUT*
Fri 8th Aug | The Vanguard, Sydney, w/ Mammals
Sat 9th Aug| Northcote Social Club Melbourne, w/ I’lls & Japanese Wallpaper *SOLD OUT*
Wed 10th Sept | BIGSOUND, Brisbane
For tickets and info visit: www.fracturesmusic.com.au
