Newcastle singer-songwriter Nicholas Connors pulls no punches.
When listening to Nicholas Connor’s Strange Dreams EP it’s hard to escape the imagery of a broken-hearted, leather-clad drunkard stumbling home in the early hours of the morning. There’s an addictively greasy slickness mixed with a Tom Waits-like swagger that gushes out of the record’s seven tracks, with Connor’s sounding like a man gone mad with love.
From the gritty opener ‘Sick Love Song’, which sets the tone of the EP, through to the twinkling ballad ‘Strange To Me’, it’s clear Connor’s has put a lot of thought into constructing sonic stories. The “strange dreams” theme runs consistently throughout the record as we are drawn into a surreal carnival of broken-hearted horrors, complete with thumping pianos, solemn acoustic guitars, and drums that transform from swinging grooves to monstrous clanking.
Such is the alluring nature of Strange Dreams, we thought we’d get the inside story from the man himself. So settle in, press play, and read Nicholas Connors’ words in out track-by-track below. Oh, and don’t forget to catch him when he plays The Lass in Newcastle April 4th (info here) and Ramblin’ Rascals in Sydney April 13th (info here).
Sick Love Song
This one is pretty much the theme song for the whole record. It deals with coming of age and making dumb mistakes. Sort of touches on the divine nature of love and that it all seems like a joke when you’re young, until it all hits you like a good sock in the face.
Strange Dreams
This track touches on the ethereal experience of being in bed with your significant other for the first few times. Its unfamiliar territory that can be strange and beautiful all at the same time.
So Amused
This one’s a little old-timey tale of falling in love with someone. Finding out their batshit crazy and loving them more for that still.
How Do You Feel
Was listening to a lot of Roy Orbison when I wrote this track. Pretty simple concept of being torn apart in the not-knowing stage of early relationships. It also has a bit of an underlying idea of me lying to myself to make me look like the good guy kind of thing.
Devil in Stovepipe Jeans
This one’s a straight up rocker. It’s about this incredibly badass woman and how she triumphs over all the little men in the world. ADG’s guitar part on this is one of my favorite things on the whole record.
At the Party
This one is kind of another dream sequence. I imagined myself stranded in a desert searching for water but coming up dry. Superimpose this onto a shitty inner-city party with the worst humans on the planet while you’re looking at the door hoping the woman you’ve been waiting for will walk in. They are the desert and she, the water.
Strange to Me
This one was written in bed after a long night that resulted in an unfortunate fight. It has all the confusion, frustration and emotion of that argument, and the beauty that you are both been fighting for.
