Agnes Kain
Agnes Kain are an indie rock folk four piece from Sydney, Australia, formed in 2005 by singers, songwriters, and musicians Chanelle Afford (vocals) and Stefan Simunic (guitar). They have known each other since they were four-year-olds. The lineup really took shape though in 2012 by joining forces with Simeon Johnson (cello) and Lee Carey (drums).
They have toured Australia and China a number of times and released three albums: Keep walking or I’ll kill you (2007), Across the ocean grey (2009) and Before we finally meet (2012). All three albums were recorded and produced by them in spare rooms, kitchens, lounge rooms and laundries in Sydney, London and Melbourne.
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Agnes Kain
before we finally meet
Agnes Kain
Keep walking or I’ll kill you
Agnes Kain
Across the ocean grey
Discography
before we finally meet
before we finally meet (hac152)
released November 2012
1. before we finally meet
2. the good in me
3. i’ll take the blame
4. still grey
5. to be a tree
6. you next to me
7. mysterious disappearance
8. sharks
9. congratulations
10. dagger and guns
11. disguise
Half A Cow Records presents Before we finally meet, the new album from Agnes Kain: singers, songwriters and musicians Chanelle Afford and Stefan Simunic from Sydney, Australia. This is their third album, following 2009’s Across the ocean grey and their debut Keep walking or I’ll kill you (2007).
Before we finally meet marks a progressive shift in sound for the indie pop folk duo as they make some noise with electric guitars and new live band – Lee Carey on drums and Simeon Johnson on cello. The album also features bass by Nic Dalton, trumpet and guitar looping by Jochen Gutsch (Hinterlandt), violin by Eleanor Grey and vocals by Evan James Purdey.
Recorded and produced by Agnes Kain in their lounge room, kitchen and laundry, this album is about mysterious disappearances, housekeeping, Reykjavik, birds crying in branches, murky water, a threatening moonlight and longing to be the light in your eyes. It was mixed by Sean Carey at Trackdown Studios in Camperdown, Sydney, and mastered by Steve Smart at Studios 301 in Alexandria, Sydney.
Keep walking or I’ll kill you
Keep walking or I’ll kill you (hac131)
released August 2007
1. You will be loved, & hated
2. Puddles & mud
3. All time high
4. Keep walking or I’ll kill you
5. To me
6. Off with the faeries
7. Favourite
8. Pretty pickings
9. Josephine
10. Our new, happy life
11. My brother told me
12. Time
Digi-pack with eight page booklet!
Indie folk pop duo Agnes Kain (Chanelle Afford and Stefan Simunic) have been creating and playing music together for the past couple of years. Having grown up on the same street in a small town on the outskirts of Sydney, there is an intimacy and comfort to their music that comes from the closeness of being long time friends. A feeling that is projected to the listener, both on their recordings and at their live shows.
They are excited to announce the release of their debut album Keep walking or I’ll kill you, which despite the wicked title was born of love. Amidst the piano, mandolin and guitar lies unassuming, heartfelt and honest tales of loves lost and found, places almost forgotten, and the peculiarities of life. Throughout there is a deepness and substance that may be missed on first listen, and although the album contains many a cheerful moment, concealed within the upbeat and playful melodies of songs such as ‘All time High’ and ‘Puddles & mud’ are tales of a more serious and somber nature. Whilst others like, ‘My brother told me’ and the title track, ‘Keep walking or I’ll kill you’ are penned from a still and thoughtful place of innocence and bruises.
The album was recorded by the duo in the spare room of their humble abode during early 2007. It was a challenge. There was heavy rain, extreme heat, they live on a flight path and their housemate vacuums incessantly. But it turned out exactly how it was intended, with simple compositions and arrangements weaving perfectly imperfect little embroideries. Both self-taught musicians, Stefan and Chanelle played most of the instruments on the album, including guitar, piano, mandolin, bass, melodica, glockenspiel, and percussion. Their friends, Ben Ellingworth (drums) and Anne Samuels (viola) also lent their talents on several songs.
There is a darkness which underlies the infectious and cleverly constructed songs of Keep walking or I’ll kill you, but also a feeling of sharing tea with old friends. Listening to the album it is easy to fall in love with its whimsical charm and warmth.
Across the ocean grey
Across the ocean grey (hac136)
released October 2009
1. a great idea
2. set you apart
3. Gideon
4. missing
5. the gentleman from Paris
6. like sirens
7. we crash into the sea
8. sad smiles and goodbyes
9. thieves
10. into the night flying
Wonderful digi-pack artwork.
Since the release of their debut album Keep walking or I’ll kill you in August 2007, Agnes Kain made the move to London and are now about to release their second album Across the ocean grey. Penned on buses, trains and during airport sleepovers around the world, it is another beautiful collection of songs reflecting on the small things that usually go unnoticed around the bigger things. Recorded by Stef Simunic and Chanelle Afford in London then mixed and mastered in Glasgow at Ca Va Sound by Brian McNeill.
Reviews
Keep Walking Or I’ll Kill You
Review by Narelle Walker
After having the good fortune to see Sydney indie pop duo Agnes Kain at the Grace Emily late last year, I was keen to have a listen to some recorded material. Their debut album Keep Walking Or I’ll Kill You surpasses their self deprecating live set with a string of quietly confident pop tunes that remain the right side of twee.
The slightly ominous title belies the delightful songs, which are mostly piano driven and lead by Chanelle Afford’s girlish vocal, punctuated with everyday imagery and gentle dialogues. ‘Puddles And Mud’ is a romp through the wet in ‘yellow galoshes’, the title track a tender memory of a young boy in class commanding ‘keep walking or I”ll kill you’ as a diversion from his true feelings about his father’s death because, as the plaintive refrain goes, “boys don’t cry”. ‘To Me’ is inspired by Cat Power’s slow diminished chords and soulful, yearning style, but most of the songs here are upbeat, inventive and inevitably adorable, even if they do mask more solemn considerations. ‘All Time High’ has a skipping gait accompanying sombre lyrics about the brutality of modern city life, a winning tactic of this lovable duo, while ‘Favourite’ is a sunny love song accented by glockenspiel and melodica.
The debut album for childhood friends Afford and Stefan Simunic was recorded in their spare room in outer Sydney, a fact will not surprise anyone who listens to it. Keep Walking… has a rich intimacy and depth with guitars, percussion, mandolin and other keyed instruments filling out the simple, stunning tracks. The gentle, carnivalesque closer ‘Time’ is a fitting full stop – a big concept bridled by perfect whimsy, like all of the best melancholic pop songs.
