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Marcel Borrack: I Was Only Dreaming
Croxton Records is proud to present the return of Melbourne’s urban troubadour Marcel Borrack with a stunning new album of sweet heartbreakers on his second solo record I Was Only Dreaming.
The Record
After a whirlwind 18 months in which he released his critically successful debut album, Help (Croxton Records, 2004), and played frequently, Marcel was looking for a calm environment to produce the tracks that would become his sophomore set I Was Only Dreaming, and found it in a miner’s cottage in rural Victoria.
“This cottage had a great vibe and a great sound and next to no distractions. If it rained or was windy I’d have to stop recording because of the noise on the tin roof and thin walls,” said Marcel, who spent seven weeks in the cottage, writing and arranging the songs, then recording them with his good mate, drummer Rob Mackenzie.
As a dedicated home producer, Marcel was clear about the sounds he wanted on the record. “After playing with lots of great people over the last few years, I knew I wanted to include contributions from them, so once the tracks started to come together I got everyone to come down and record their bits. It was great to have other people’s ideas and performances on the record.”
I Was Only Dreaming proves a confident and genuine second offering and seems to have found its heart in the lush, pastoral environment it was made in as much as in Marcel’s unpretentious storytelling and subtle, spacious arrangements. And if you’re inclined to appreciate albums on headphones, “you’re likely to hear lots of cows and birds in the background,” promises Marcel.
Feature Tracks
I Was Only Dreaming – Written the day after the 2004 federal election, “when I wanted to stay in bed.”
Gone So Soon – Marcel wrote this song for Suzannah Espy from Git while recording songs for her album A Few More Days. “I was too scared to play it to her,” says Marcel. “She told me about growing up in Fremantle and going to the same school as Bon Scott. It’s a bit of a mixture of historical narrative and Suzannah’s life entangled with my reflections on AC/DC. I found out after I wrote the song I’d actually gone to school with Bon Scott’s cousin.”
Lost My Way – An autobiographical number about writing songs. “After I’d written it, I heard Henry Wagons (the man is a genius) on the radio saying how self indulgent it is to write a song about songwriting. I really thought about it a lot and concluded he’s absolutely correct.”
Go To Sleep – “It’s about a time when my brakes failed,” Marcel says.
Album Personnel
Robert Mackenzie (drums), Andy Papadopoulos (bass), Barry Turnbull (pedal-steel, dobro), Peter Carolane (organ, viola) and Andrew Prideaux (backing vocals) plus Special Guests Al Barden (drums) Jen Anderson (violin) and Barb Waters (vocals on My Pony).
Andy Papadopoulos, Barry Turnbull, Peter Carolane and Andrew Prideaux played with Marcel for the 6 months either side of the time his debut solo album Help came out, and then the lineup was stripped back to a more acoustic format with Andy Papadopoulos (double bass) and Barry Turnbull (dobro), up until the release of this record.
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