Theodore

Deep Mum

The M1 is a new collaborative project between Russell Webster (Shining Bird, Ernest Ellis Band) and Jay Bird (Jack Ladder Band, Tropical Strength) which started early 2020 from their shared suburb of Austinmer in the Northern Illawarra. Drawing from influences like Brian Eno, John Carpenter and The Cure’s Disintegration, The M1 delve into a world of moody, ambient, synth driven music.  

More recently, the duo have been joined by drummer Paul Mclean (Dope Lemon, The Walking Who) to finish their debut EP Megawati, which will be released September 2020.

Megawati presents four dark and cinematic tracks that ebb and flow into each other. Mixed by the group and mastered by Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring), Megawati calls back to the raw psychedelic synth sound you might hear on the soundtrack to a forgotten horror film from the early 80s or more recently Johann Johannsson’s score for the 2018 film ‘Mandy’.

Not wanting to drag their feet and over think their first release, Megawati was born from three improvised sessions at Jay’s home studio in the hills of Austinmer. The newly assembled M1 trio finished the EP over the course of a week during the NSW lockdown earlier this year.

“We wanted to capture the energy and spontaneity of improvised music and limit the amount of time spent doing overdubs” said Jay Bird of the recording process.

Title track and first single ‘Megawati’ will be available to stream across all platforms on Thursday the 17th of September with the full EP coming late September 2020.

The M1

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