Prolific Sydney musician, producer and remixer Paul Mac will soon release his first new solo material in a decade, with a new single titled State Of War to drop on 9th February, and a new album titled Holiday From Me to arrive on 10th April.
Holiday From Me will feature contributions from a number of guest vocalists, including Megan Washington, The Reels frontman Dave Mason, and Nathan Hudson, former frontman of Sydney band Faker. The album will also see performances from Kira Puru, Ngaiire, Brendan Maclean, Shaun J Wright (Stereogamous, Hercules & Love Affair), Benjamin Fraser and Dappled Cities frontman Tim Derricourt.
“Music has always been my escape to a magic place, a world where I feel freedom, joy and all the pulses that the heart can create,” Mac says in a statement.
“I called the album Holiday From Me because that is exactly what I was trying to do, escape to that magic place. The album is a ten year journey compressed into eleven songs. It’s a more pumping, electronic album but the lyrics come from a new perspective. These aren’t just tantrums of anger or one-sided arguments, it’s a more mature approach to matters of the heart.”
State Of War features contributions from Kira Puru and DJ Goodwill. Of the track, Mac says, “State Of War is about how love lives on a knife’s edge. The intensity of passion is the most ecstatic feeling we all chase, but when it turns sour, there is no stronger hatred than that held for the one you used to love.”
Mac will debut material from Holiday From Me at Sydney’s Mardi Gras Party on 7th March, performing in the main room with some of his guest vocalists, and fusing live performance with a DJ set.
“Mardi Gras is the perfect home to debut the new album,” Mac has said. “Mardi Gras helped me come out all those years ago and filled me with a pride of being that can’t be stopped. To share such a bunch of personal tracks with like-minded spirits, at the home of my community, feels like an apt and a beautiful way to begin the project.”
Paul Mac’s last solo album was 2005’s Panic Room. Since then, he performed as Silverchair’s touring keyboardist before the band went on indefinite hiatus in 2011. Mac has also turned his classically-trained hands to soundtrack work, including music on Beautiful, Kath and Kim and Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger.
Paul Mac was also one half of The Dissociatives, alongside musical mate and Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns, who has this week teased his first solo release.
