On Friday night, I went to see Paul Dempsey at Freo Social. An old school friend invite me and I met my sister there, who had run into two people I used to hang out with back in the early 2000’s. One of them was in a band with me, the other I met online and he introduced me to the local music scene.
It reminded me of the first Paul Dempsey solo gig I attended, which I believe at least of these old friends attended with me. It was at the Fly By Nightclub in Fremantle – what has now become Freo Social. Reflecting on this continuity could lead me to think that not much in my life has really changed in 21 years. But that would be patently untrue.
Last week, I also performed live for the first time in 13 years. It was less nerve wracking than ever before, but the same issues I’ve always had around my voice are still there. And I’m not going to hide from the work that needs to be done anymore.
But, all of this thinking about time and life does lead me into the first single from Something for Kate’s 2020 album, The Modern Medieval. “Situation Room” is a song that really resonates with me. Here’s what Mr Dempsey has to say about it:
When I wrote the lyrics I guess I was really just thinking about the way that you can try and mitigate things and the way you can avoid risks and pitfalls and the way you can try and predict what’s going to happen just ahead of you, so that you avoid disaster. But then there are always going to be these people in your life, or events in your life, or situations, that are just going to hit you for six. And it’s about that moment of just sort of going, ‘I’ve got nothing here, I’ve been knocked for six.’ It’s about that moment of surrender. And in a weird way for me it’s almost like a celebration of that moment; it’s not necessarily a negative thing, it’s almost like you’re offering a round of applause to that thing that just hit you out of the park.
Paul Dempsey The Music ‘Something For Kate’s New Song is What We Need Right Now’
I feel this song really executes this feeling. It starts out a gentle guitar, bass and drums, picking up some piano before the verse comes in. You can really feel the bittersweet notes, with the simmering of distorted guitar under punchy drums. The vocal performance captures the sadness and even frustration of life taking a turn in a direction you never intended.
What I’ve always loved about SFK and Paul Dempsey’s lyrics is their turn of phrase, using common expressions in a unique way. There’s a thought out there in the songwriting world that it’s all about telling stories. While there are elements of storytelling there, I feel there’s more focus on concepts and feelings intead of people and places. That rubs me up the right way as I find myself doing that in my own lyrics, as I’m not drawn to the typical storytelling style.
There isn’t really a chorus to this song, just the line ‘I got nothing when it comes to you’ repeated. But it’s enough to resolve the verse when added to the pre chorus. The second chorus leads beautifully into the middle eight:
Running these simulations is allMy imagination is any good forJust trying to guess the writing on the wall
Something for Kate – Situation Room
This is followed by more beautiful, atmospheric guitar that trails off and leads us back into a slightly tweaked first verse, where the music drops back competely. It gives you the feeling of actually being in the Situation Room with Paul as he sings with a guitar, then the instruments kick back in, just before the last line ‘I got nothing’ washes over the outro, a gorgeous musical affair with pretty piano picking up the melody.
And just like that, we’re at the end of the song and the end of this post. If any of this resonates with you or you can think of someone it would, I’d love if you could share it. I write this blog for me, but I’d love to connect with other like minded people ❤️