The new album from Cash Savage and the Last Drinks, titled So This Is Love, offers fans of the Melbourne songwriter something different, in more ways than one.
While Savage and her band are known for their deep and sometimes dark brand of alt-country, So This Is Love comes from a different place both emotionally and sonically, bringing to the forefront a fragility often heard but rarely focused on in the outfit’s previous work.
The factors behind this shift in tone revolve around additional personnel, a different production process imposed by the pandemic and Savage’s recent experiences of the breakdown of her marriage and her struggles with maintaining her mental health.
The result is something that feels more intimate than previous Cash Savage albums, but still retains the powerful and hard-rocking essence of the band’s sound.
“It’s a really personal album born out of a really difficult time,” she said.
“I wrote it over the last few years while experiencing probably the most difficult mental health times that I’ve ever experienced. It was difficult to make for many reasons.
“It was difficult to make because I couldn’t actually get together with bandmates through the time that I was writing it. It was difficult because I was struggling with lockdowns, but also my marriage was breaking down.
“So yeah, it’s a funny one for me, this album; I’m very glad that it’s out, but it’s been a hard one the whole way through, for many reasons. But I’d like to think that it’s not heavy, that there’s a level of hope there.”
The band has added keyboard player Roshan Khozouei to the lineup since recording its 2018 album Good Citizens, changing the overall balance and texture of sound.
“I think (adding Khozouei) has really made the biggest sonic change to what’s going on here,” Savage said.
“Instead of adding piano as an afterthought, the piano and synths were part of it from the start, at the time of arranging.
“The members of the band have always been very respectful about making sure there’s space for each other, and that’s been even more important.”
The process of songwriting and recording was also significantly different this time around than on the band’s previous four albums due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“We were going into the studio without actually having played the songs to a crowd, and that’s a really different experience,” Savage said.
“Normally you get the vibe of what people are thinking, and we get to settle into what we’re doing while in front of other people.
“Two of the three singles that we released had never been played to an audience before we released them. That was really different for us.”
Cash Savage and the Last Drinks will perform at the Torquay Hotel on Saturday, May 20 as part of their So This Is Love tour.
