Introducing a new song is like birthing a baby, according to multi-instrumentalist and folk performer Kim Churchill.
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The self-described troubadour spent 2016 in relative quiet working on new material, after spending his late teens and early 20s exploding onto the international music scene as a festival prodigy.
He will perform at Suttons House of Music next week, one of many gigs planned that are intimate, perfect for introducing new songs.
“In the lead-up to releasing my next album, I really wanted to get out and do intimate and unplugged and raw acoustic shows because that is the most incredible way to introduce people to songs. It’s an entirely different approach and for me it’s so much more vulnerable and it’s so much more simple,” he said.
“They can grow into whatever they want once I start playing. They’ll grow into big festival songs with lights and instrumentation and massive amounts of energy, but initially they’ve got to be brought up right.
“It’s a strange analogy but whenever a couple has a baby, they go insular and find somewhere out of the way and quiet. It’s the same with songs, you have to strip back a lot of your life and introduce them in a very quiet and insular way.”
Now 26, Churchill has finally settled down in the one location – Newcastle – after spending the past years travelling around vans throughout Australia, Europe and North America with his four highly-regarded albums and hit single Window to the Sky.
But even though the Merimbula-raised surfer has slowed down as a traveller and wanderer, he’s decided to keep the title of troubadour, despite its association with travelling minstrels and is glad to now called Newcastle home.
“There was a music venue here called the Junkyard in Maitland, which in my early years of touring became a second home. They let me more or less have a room upstairs and that whole world became a family to me,” he said.
“My best friends are all around here and if ever I didn’t have a gig I’d gravitate in that direction. This last year I thought I’d take the opportunity to slow down and really move out of the van.”
Churchill will perform at Suttons on January 20. For tickets, visit www.suttonshouseofmusic.com.au