Achieving simplicity is often a complex process, and that’s part of Warm Currency’s appeal.
If you’ve been around Sydney’s music and visual arts communities for a while, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered MP Hopkins and Mary MacDougall in some form or another. Their years of multi-format work as individuals comes together to create something special for Warm Currency.
Petals, their newest album, is deeply considered, conceptual but not exclusive, and built equally on melodic prettiness and – for lack of a better word – weirdness. Their Bandcamp calls it "thick webbed folk music" (something else I suspect they gave much consideration to) which is a perfect description. It’s delicate, eerie, and a meeting point between tightly woven songwriting and far-reaching experimental wanderings. There's pattern but also unexpectedness. It’s honest music, too, that feels like it could only be created by them, as individuals who both balance and push each other creatively with a shared appreciation for what is inherent to one another.
"As a creative person you have a sensibility and it’s pretty innate and unique to you, and I don’t think you can learn that anywhere or really profoundly change it that much."– Mary MacDougall
Listening to Warm Currency through headphones reveals even more interesting intricacies. The creaks, cracks and peripheral rumblings feel like an invitation into the rooms in which they write and record themselves, as if Matthew's guitar playing and Mary’s words are there just for you.
Words by Luke M de Zilva