“I think the thing about music as a composer, as well as a listener too, is that the meanings constantly change,” she explains assuredly, when I ask if she was tempted to alter any of the older tunes. “So, say a song that I wrote when I was 19 like Spawn, which is the oldest song on the record, that meant what it meant to me at the time and now it means something totally different, but equally significant.”
The operation can’t have been easy. You try finding the original material from something you created 17 years ago, and see how you fare. But for Noonan, these songs were so core to her mind at the time of creation that they’ve never been far from her heart (despite not having played some of them in over a decade).
“I must admit, I would’ve loved to have had the time to find the original songbook; they are somewhere in my office but we (Noonan, husband Isaac Hurren and two sons Dexter and Jonah) moved house last year and we’re still half in boxes. So I couldn’t really go back to the source in that way. But I didn’t really need to do that, you know, because I wrote it and I remember it.”
In putting together the release, titled Songbook, Noonan discovered not just a maturation of themes and content but also of the songwriting process. “The thing about being an artist is that you’re constantly questioning the process, and you’re constantly questioning…everything,” she laughs. “You want to get better, and you want to evolve, and you don’t want to get stuck in a spot that means you’re not going to improve. I’m always kind of doing that, anyway. But looking back, yes, I can see that my harmonic intentions grew. I guess I can hear the influence of my jazz training coming through a little bit further on, then earlier on I think you can hear a bit more of the classical tradition in the chordal movement.”
There’s also a golden maxim which she’s discovered has laced its way into her compositions. “I think the older you get as a musician, the more you realise that less is more. If you can say something with three chords and few words, without the purple prose… if the chords aren’t necessary to move, don’t move them. It’s an evolution where you just kind of realise. And some of the greatest songs ever written are incredibly simple, and they’re profound in their simplicity and they’re succinct.”
Songbook as a physical object is a pretty in-depth affair, the coolest part of which is that it includes sheet music. Sort of like Beck’s Song Reader? “Yeah! Well, that’s a totally different thing where there is no recording,” Noonan says. “I mean the ultimate compliment is someone doing your music, really. When people send me versions of my songs it really gives me a great kick, and I think that’s awesome. I’ve had a lot of people over the years ask me for music, and this project just seemed like the right time.”
BY ZOË RADAS
