For Gold Coast artist Angie Farr, aka Old Sault, her debut EP Mostly Worried signified a great entrance to to the east coast Aussie music scene. Her single “Sleeping With Danger” established Old Sault as an artist to watch and propelled her to more success on triple j Unearthed, while her work with acclaimed producer Govinda Doyle on the EP has only bolstered her music’s quality moving forward.
Dark and mysterious indie folk is the name of the game and as we learn from Old Sault herself, Mostly Worried tackles themes of being comfortable with yourself, exudes musical intricacy and exploring nostalgia.
“HANDS”
This is the first song I ever demo’d and I always knew I wanted it to be the opening track of the EP. It started off as a shell of an electronic drum beat with my vocals behind it, but every time I’d work on the song I’d go blank and move onto something else instead. One night I was drunk at my friend Winston’s house when all of these ideas started coming to fruition: Reverse guitars at the beginning, some piano, an electronic drum beat, then an explosion of instruments at the end.
Winston and I got drunk and worked on the song for six hours, and all of a sudden his computer froze and we couldn’t save the file. To cut the long story short, one minute we were drunk and consumed by a whirlwind of regret and rage in front of a computer screen at 2am. The next minute the sun was coming up and we’re sharing a blanket and coffee, re-recording the whole thing again from scratch.
The song is about learning someone’s demons and then feeling okay about your own.
“GHOST”
“Ghost” is about a build up of nostalgia and anxiety which is buried by a facade of contentment. The lyric, ‘It’s slow to surface’, is pretty much the backbone of the entire song. I remember the night I sent the demo to my producer Govinda and I joked about it to my friend, “Imagine if he actually responds and wants to record it,” – Total wig out. He’s one of my dearest friends now.
“PIPELINE”
I never intended on having this song on the EP. There was another song called “Street Lights”, which was meant to be Track 3. I wrote “Pipeline” two days before going into the studio and I couldn’t get it off my mind the whole time, I was playing it constantly between recording “Sleeping With Danger” and “Hands”, and then I’d continue playing it every night when I got home. Eventually it became a no-brainer to record it, and it’s still my go-to song whenever I’m alone and there’s a guitar in reach.
“Pipeline” is about holding onto something that is broken. I was really sad when I wrote it.
“SAIL HOME”
I wrote this song on the floor of my apartment after an epiphany about my shit life. Anyway I was really sick in the studio when I recorded this; I ate a whole pack of Fisherman’s Friends and drank half a bottle of Brandy to try and save the atrocity that was my voice at the time. I could have waited until I felt better, but I was feeling impatient and just wanted to get the song done. Now, I struggle to sing this song in the same key as the recorded version unless I have the flu. Go figure.
“SLEEPING WITH DANGER”
This song is about a relationship where only one party is mentally sound. It’s from the perspective of the unstable individual who is wholly aware of their issues and is asking the stable person to leave, even though they don’t really want them to. It’s my favourite track on the record.
Listen to Mostly Worried below!
Mostly Worried is out now.
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