Michael Waugh This Song Reminds Me

'This Song Reminds Me' is the first single from Michael Waugh's forthcoming album, due for release later this year. It follows 2018's The Asphalt & The Oval (winner of 2018's The Age Music Victoria Awards 'Best Folk and Roots Album') and 2016's What We Might Be and is Michael's third studio project with multiple ARIA and Golden Guitar Award winning producer Shane Nicholson. Their reference points throughout were the songs and artists that have defined the Australian sound – our musical voice.

'This Song Reminds Me' is more than just the lead single – it's a mission statement about the album that is to follow. The album is squarely focused on our national identity, and speaking of composing this first single, Waugh jokes that:

"I do a great deal of songwriting on bikes. While it's sometimes hard to hold a guitar and steer… 'This Song Reminds Me' was written while pedalling through the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond.

This song's chorus and outro include a list of Australian artists who have inspired me; bands whose songs are like time machines - they take me to times and places and relationships that were. Theirs are the voices that remember me – even when I've forgotten those parts of myself. Their songs remind me of being young, partying, being drunk, being heartbroken, being in love, of best mates, of my farm, of radio on long country drives. Their songs have followed me through my life. They are the soundtrack to where I've been.

But I had written about 45 variations of this list of Aussie legends – because our country has a rich tradition of music that defines us, too many to name in one song. And I wanted to get it right! So, while cycling, singing the 46th list of Australia's rock royalty, and trying to avoid being hit by a truck – I waited for a sign. And then, it happened: Molly Meldrum stepped out of his Richmond home to collect his garbage bins!

Surely this was an epiphany from The Countdown Gods, heralding that I should 'do myself a favour' and keep this particular version of the lyrics."

The amazing one-take music video was directed by Michael's ex-student James Vinson who now works on television's Wentworth. The video features dance work by Chunky Moves artist, internationally toured dancer Alya Manzart. James' brief was that this video is 'about a guy who wakes up with this song on his mind – it's the soundtrack to everything he does and it brings the spirit of those Aussie rock superstars into our loungerooms'. Alya was charged with finding the physical vocabulary of those iconic artists and bringing them into everyday life.

Michael recalls working with the dancer:

"I said to Alya 'you know, playing air guitar like Angus Young'. Amazingly, Alya's response was 'playing guitar like who?'. Apparently, as a home schooled son of hippy parents, Alya didn't have Countdown to guide his experience of Australian culture. What you see is a world class contemporary dancer learning the movement of Hutchence, Amphlett, Wilson and many more in a series of moves that I'm going to call a 'Pas de Young'!"

Get on your bike! Do yourself a favour! Check out 'This Song Reminds Me', the first single from Michael Waugh's forthcoming album on Compass Bros Records, through Universal Music Australia