Mat McHugh www.matmchugh.com Viva the wilful left turn! The element of surprise has been a cornerstone of great music forever: think Bob Dylan's electric revolution, or every second album by Neil Young, or the Clash's outrageous triple-disc sprawl, Sandinista! All and none of them were on Mat McHugh's mind when he took time out from his day job as founder-singer-songwriter of the Beautiful Girls to record this playful, profound and provocative solo debut, SEPERATISTA! "A huge part of this is stepping away from expectation," he says. "There's nods to ska and dub and reggae, with kind of a hip-hop aesthetic, just picking up things I love and putting them together. I wanted to have fun with it, to make a record for music's sake. "What I've always done with the Beautiful Girls is to run as far as possible from what anyone thought we were. Trying my best to keep challenging myself and other people is incredibly important to me." Hence the surprising electricity of last year's ZIGGURATS album, a disc that challenged old TBG fans while captivating a whole bunch of new ones. Those old fans are likely to do backflips over the melodious syncopated acoustic grooves of the solo album. "I thought it would be good to strip it all back and start again without the bells and whistles," says Mat. "I also wanted to allow myself some musical freedom and collaborate with other musicians. It allows me to voice the singer-songwriter side of me that's slowly being erased from the Beautiful Girls." Which brings us to SEPERATISTA!, a free-floating animal of rare sensitivity and grace, recorded with a band largely seconded from the Sydney jazz scene. Off-kilter drums, deep bass, horns, piano, organ, melodica and cello flesh out Mat's voice, acoustic guitar and occasional ukulele on an album rich in precious sonic details. "The horn players Matt Keegan and Simon Ferenci have played on the last couple of TBG records and the others I know from around the way," he says. "They're all phenomenal players and it's an amazing feeling hearing them interpret the songs that I've written." They're songs that reward interpretation on many levels. The melancholy guitar figure of "Numb" and the cheerfully ambling reggae gait of "Over and Over/ Ring The Alarm" are worlds apart, but each questions the same fundamentals of human experience. Or, to put it another way, "the songs are populated with people wondering what the f--- it's all about," laughs Mat. "I hope they're pretty inclusive. That's always my aim. We're all in this together and the further I go in this world, trying to keep my eyes and ears and heart open, the more I realise no one really knows anything. But it's OK, cause we're all in the same boat." A line from "Bad Blood" expresses the shared dislocation that gives SEPERATISTA! its thematic spark: "It just gets lonely spinning around the sun." It's the same drama for the character sinking in alcohol in "The Bottle", the ones seeking release or escape in "Fall To Pieces" and "Loneliness", and the one pledging love and loyalty in the uplifting ska tune, "I'll Be For You". Each story traces its way back to Mat's time spent in India and the Black Bird, which features in the Beautiful Girls song quiver, is back and central to the albums imagery, as Mat explains: "When I lived in India I stayed in an Ashram on the Ganges River where every morning before dawn a big black crow would land on my window sill and wake me. I was kind of spaced out at the time because of all the Malaria medication and I kept having these dreams that the bird was trying to tell me something. "It would say that everyone's stories would make their way into the river from which it drank and haunt its heart and soul. It couldn't escape its sadness and wanted to offload some of its burden onto anyone that would listen. I guess, in that respect, the black bird was the wings of a timeless story." SEPERATISTA! was recorded at Noisegate Studios in Sydney by Mat's long-term studio collaborator, Ian Pritchett, who is also down to play bass in the touring version of the band. "The players are all guys that I have seen at gigs and I really respect them. We are not sure yet, but I'd love to tour the band." says Mat. "I would basically want it to be the best show anybody has ever seen. A really strong live show, old material and new, plus (old TBG compadres) Matty Woo and Afro Dave would have to be there too" But what about The Beautiful Girls!? Relax, they'll be back. Part of Mat's raison d'etre is to allow each project/band the freedom to be what it is. "This album was really easy and fun and I think I was in the best place emotionally I've ever been in making an album." Mat says. "I'd cleared a lot of stuff out of my head and was just enjoying myself. "I try to write songs from my heart and if people like it, that's very cool. If not that's OK too. There'll be another record. And another. And another"