Lior’s 10th anniversary national tour for his debut album, Autumn Flow, stops by the Astor Theatre on Friday, October 30. CLAUDIA NATHAN reports.
Australian-Israeli singer/songwriter, Lior, recently announced a re-release and national tour of his debut album, Autumn Flow, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of its release in 2005. Eeminent for his honest and deep-rooted unprocessed sound, Lior will perform Autumn Flow in its entirety, as well as selected songs from subsequent albums that followed its release.
Lior came into success through his own cosmic commitment and dedication to true, honest, story-telling music. After an failed attempt in obtaining a record deal, he put out his debut album independently; a risky decision considering that successful independently released albums were a rarity in Australia at that point in time. As it turned out, Lior’s raw, unfeigned sound connected to a large national audience, extending to global recognition and critical acclaim, as well as three ARIA nominations and a J Award nomination for triple j’s album of the year.
We spoke with Lior about the upcoming tour and his hopes and expectations of re-releasing and touring Autumn Flow.
“I suppose, as artists, we are always looking forward,” he says of commemorating the album’s anniversary, “and it just struck me as a really good time to take a moment to reflect on 10 pretty rich years that have been filled with six albums, and to go back to an album that started it all and paved the way for me to begin my career and that connected with a lot of people.
“Also, having put that album out independently, it grew in a really organic way, word of mouth, it just slowly built, so a lot of people that discovered the album did so after I’d launched it and toured it and I suppose this is a nice way of re-connecting with those people that discovered it a few years later but never got to see it live.”
Lior will play at six beautiful venues across Australia from October 9-31, joined on stage by musicians Brett Hirst, Evan Mannel, Elana Stone Bree Van Reyk, Ben Edgar and Gerard Masters.
“The line-up is similar to the one I used on my last album,” he says, “other than Brett Hirst on bass who was a member of the original line-up with Autumn Flow, who’s such a beautiful musician.
“With the last album I used two drummers, both on the record and live, playing simultaneously. Autumn Flow is quite rich in terms of percussive texturing and layering, so it will work really well for that album too – it seemed like a natural decision to stick with that band.”
Lior’s musical legacy and success owe itself to how he has connected with his audience on a level that is much more than just entertainment; there are constituents of spiritual inner sentiment in his music that pulls him out of the footlights, where we can understand him as an artist and musical paragon.
“I think there’s just an honesty and an authenticity about the songs that I put out,” he says. “And I’m not saying that that exists more so than other singers and songwriters, but the people who do connect with my songs, I think they feel a genuine sense of connection because I’m writing honest songs. Writing, for me, was not something I got into for the showbiz. I got into it because for me it’s a diary entry and a way of me marking down my stories, and I think that some people can look into those stories and they serve as windows into their own lives.
“Autumn Flow was done with no commercial consideration at all because it was released independently and I couldn’t get a record deal at the time. So I did that album for me and I thought, ‘if someone buys it that’s cool, I just don’t want to leave this world without capturing these songs in the best way that I can for me’.
“I think when art is done for those reasons, and it works, then it connects with people on a very true level.”
