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WHAT: Josh Pyke (+ Jack Carty)
WHEN AND WHERE: The Palais, Hepburn Springs, Wednesday October 24; Karova Lounge, Thursday October 25.
TICKETS: The Palais (www.thepalais.com.au), $25 +bf general admission, $60 +bf dinner and show 6.30pm, $35 door sales 8.30pm; Karova Lounge (www.karovalounge.com) $30 +bf
Josh Pyke is just a happy guy.
That's how the Aria award-winning singer/songwriter explains the tone of his new material.
"So far the songs have been a bit more joyous," he says.
"I've got 10 songs so far that feel good and feel right."
Pyke has plenty of reasons to smile.
His latest album Only Sparrows, from 2011, has landed him with three Aria Nominations a testament to its staying power a year after its release.
He is also about to embark on one last run of shows before he settles down to finish off his next album.
Pyke performs at The Palais in Hepburn Springs on Wednesday, October 24 and Ballarat's Karova Lounge on Thursday, October 25.
For the Sydney-based talent, music is a "compulsion".
"I don't feel right in myself and the world unless I'm making music," he said.
"At some crazy point in time it became my career. I'm addicted to it but thankfully it's a pretty positive addiction."
Only Sparrows was written on the road and in New York and followed on from Pyke's Gold selling ARIA award-winning albums Memories & Dust (2007) and Chimney's Afire (2008).
Pyke, who over the past few years has been solidly on the road or making records, says he enjoys touring and writing for different reasons.
On one hand, writing is an escape and a chance to get lost in his own world.
But he adds there's nothing like singing his songs to an appreciative audience.
For his final solo tour for 2012, Pyke will be bringing his guitar, stomp box and a loop pedal, along with some percussion, a harmonica and even a recorder with him on the road.
"I'll be reinterpreting a few songs, older ones and newer ones," he said.
"The fact that it's a solo tour makes it a bit more special. The venues are a bit more intimate and you can engage with your audience."
Following the tour, he'll be back in his Sydney studio working on the new album that he hopes to release by May 2013.