Big Smoke have released their highly anticipated debut album Time Is Golden. The album, which was completed after singer and songwriter Adrian Slattery passed away, is an astounding and virtuosic document of a songwriter and a band at the height of their respective powers.
Time Is Golden is cinematic, breathtakingly powerful and heartbreakingly intimate – a triumph in the face of unimaginable adversity. Above everything else, the album is a testament to the band’s determination and vision that lives out Adrian’s wish to create an enduring, major work. Time Is Golden is a lasting tribute to his immense talent, extinguished too soon.
Predominantly recorded in November 2015 in-between rounds of chemotherapy to treat Adrian’s oesophageal cancer and prior to him undergoing brain surgery. Luke Brennan (drummer) and Alex O’Gorman (bassist) quit their day jobs to make sure they could help Adrian finish the album and continue producing overdubs throughout early 2016.
LA-based engineer Shawn Everett fell in love with the project and agreed to come out to mix the album. He was unable to travel to Australia before Adrian passed away in May this year, but he fulfilled his promise and flew to Melbourne in August to mix the bulk of the album at St Charles Studios in Northcote.
Throughout the mixing process, Shawn grew very close to the project – as he explained, “anyone trying to preserve their legacy speaks to me.” Alex, who flew to LA to finish the remainder of the mixing with Shawn went on to say, “It’s sad, but I don’t think there’s anything better that someone could leave behind than a record … It’s better than a book, because it’s pure joy. You can hear him.”
However, this tale is not a tragedy. As Adrian himself said; “This is not the story of heartbreak or of illness, it is the story of living and all that it entails.”
Purchase / stream Time Is Golden: https://bigsmoke.lnk.to/
