“I pretty much moved to Melbourne as soon as I finished my last year 12 exam,” she explains. “I definitely knew from an early age that I wanted to move away from the country. I might go back someday but, for music and things like that, it’s definitely worth getting out.”
City-living can be like a drug; once integrated into your system you simply can’t give it up. But, there’s also an initial sting.
“It took me quite a few years to fully feel comfortable here,” Retallick reveals. “The [main] thing was just getting used to being around people all the time. The fast-paced life, I guess. I actually really struggled with it when I first moved here.”
Thankfully, with her Jimmy Tait project, Retallick discovered how to fit in around Melbourne. It was without any huge expectations that she first applied herself to music, but it’s proved an increasingly redeeming pursuit.
“I was fortunate enough to meet some really great people when I first moved here, which just encouraged me so much,” she says. “When I first moved from the country I didn’t really see it as a possibility – living a normal life and also being a musician and playing shows and making albums. No-one did that where I’m from, so the idea was quite alien to me.”
Even if Retallick’s country upbringing meant she wasn’t surrounded by musicians of the same calibre as those living in Melbourne, it by no means prevented her from exploring her creative potential.
“I was… not so much forced into creativity, but ushered that way,” she says. “My mum always encouraged me to do things like draw and play guitar, just to occupy myself. There wasn’t a lot of social things to do apart from playing sport around that area. It definitely influenced my entry into a creative path.”
Fast-forward to the present and Retallick’s sitting on top of two well-received LPs. After piquing interest with 2011’s self-titled effort, last year’s Golden spread her melancholic yet strangely warming songcraft all over the country. Although Jimmy Tait began as a solo project, in the last couple of years it’s essentially morphed into a band.
“I started writing songs and playing them on guitar and then I sort of accumulated members,” Retallick explains. “I generally have a fair bit of influence but I do like to leave it up to everyone to write their own parts. It’s actually a really easygoing band. We’ve never had any fights or anything like that, which has been pretty amazing.”
Golden was met by rave reviews, gained national radio play and an Australian Music Prize nomination. Despite all these accolades, high profile acclaim isn’t Retallick’s major objective.
“I started doing it for myself and it’s really awesome that people seem to really like it, but I would probably keep doing it in some capacity even if we weren’t getting that positive feedback from people. It’s just satisfying that creative urge, more than anything. [I just need] to make things and at the moment music feels natural to make.”
What’s more, it seems that the idyllic features of country life still play a crucial role in conjuring the creative spark.
“I usually go there to write,” Retallick says. “I find it quite difficult to write in the city. I really value that quietness and the space. I definitely need to get out of my environment in order to write and usually away from people and distractions.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
