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Victoria

by Sean McMahon

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  • Cassette + Digital Album

    A limited run of cassettes with handmade reversible covers featuring artwork by Matt Green, lyrics sheet, and a bonus track- a solo acoustic version of 'Further Still To Run'. download codes included.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Victoria via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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1.
Speak To Me 04:36
You speak to me without a sound I can hear you calling me now Way out here, in the wide open space I am only passing through Rolling through the fields of rain Pushing the tide away Here comes the golden hour On my window pane Dreams become reality so the dreamer lives on in thee I have seen ways and means guide the blind over the grade I call her my silver wings the queen of my rodeo leaving the rest to rust leeding me over home
2.
Two Days 03:54
Two days are holding out on me Through my window I can see My winters come To roll me over And bring back the sun And cut back my deadwood and debris Two days Two days and going on three Through the silent night I lay and wait for your story eyes to stir and speak to me Two days Two days and going on three Two days are waiting and holding on for the words to come along to the mouth that loves the song soon all will be revealed before too longlike falling rain on the budding field where I stand and wait for thee Two days Two days and going on three
3.
Remember the trip two years are over Remember taking off guitar on your shoulder With everything packed, you turned to Jack said see you when you’re older and you turned your wheels away Remember the road and the river and crossing over a long band of gold and muddy water Remember the trip what did you hope for what were you after? Was it the great escape? Remember the trip Remember the waves breaking one by one Out on your own with no one to lean on you leave yourself open and without a place to fall Its a delicate thing, throwing caution to the wind it can shake you down for sure Remember the trip, travelling light , running on empty, into the night Searching for something, far and wide, from the middle of nowhere over the Great Divide Remember the trip you and your shadow joined at the hip looking for shelter Remember the sun and silver lining high over head keep on shining
4.
You know when you’re on to something good something better than before Things begin to shine the way they should all around your door You know when you’re on to something right something worth the wait When you’re onto something more than sleeping in at a hotel super 8 Thats where i been lying, Thats where i been dreaming, Thats where I been drinking away the TV hours, tying off my loosing ends You know when your turn is coming back around when something betters blowing on the wind Well you step on up, you jump on in and you raise the sail again Well you know when you’re on to something strong something good as gold You climb down stairs from that hotel bed on the floor that would not hold Thats where I've been standing Thats where I’ve been gone Thats where i was landing all my hail mary songs, and trying to play along Thats where i been lying Thats where i been dreaming Thats where i been leaning all my crooked alibis, while waiting to arrive
5.
Janelle 04:04
Can you see me in the corner, Janelle can you feel my fear can you feel my heartbeat through the floor Janelle, won’t you stand beside me and hold my hand When the spotlights bounce off the mirrorball at the dance, at the council hall won’t you tell em all I’m here Tell em all I’m here Tell ‘em all I’m here Janelle If not for you, all of my nights would be a little darker Can you see me in the shadows up against the wall can you feel me reaching out for you Janelle won’t you be my partner and turn me around When the spotlights bounce off the mirror ball at the dance at the council hall won’t you tell em all I’m here Tell em all I’m here Tell ‘em all I’m here Janelle If not for you, all of my nights would be a little darker if not for you id be the only one in black mascara
6.
Good morning, tomorrow, where have you been? Tell me all you've seen. I've walked in, I've wondered alone in a dream I rode your river downstream. I followed your footsteps from door to door To make up a bed on your floor I never was certain of anything But now that I've found you I am To walk with you always, holding your hand To love you with all I am Good morning, tomorrow, here comes the sun Here comes my only one Good morning, tomorrow, open your eyes and lead us in to the light Good morning tomorrow, sing me your song Where did you sleep last night?
7.
Four Aces 04:15
There’s no more high times at the Four Aces It’s time to pay up and roll. And all that we have for the handing over Is only fools gold Since she turned her head and tied her laces And danced right out the door There’s no more high times at the Four Aces And there won’t be none no more All of last years leaves have flown in the breeze All in mother natures name And just like the sun, when the winter comes She’ll be gone all the same There’s no more high times at the Four Aces It’s time to pay up and roll And all that we have for the handing over Was stolen or we sold And now all of our weed has gone to seed And there aint a row left to sow There’s no more high times at the Four Aces Since we let a good thing go We let a good thing go
8.
Rose 05:08
Oh Rose, a change in the weather is all that we need Oh Rose, a change in the weather gives life to the seeds of love again You dance with your arms in the wind You shake like a tambourine You wait till a war is over, to see him again Where once you were golden You gave it away You'll be not forgotten We came here to play Oh Rose, a change in the weather is all that we need Oh Rose a change in the weather gives life to the seeds of love again. You stand there alone on the front stair, of a house where nobody hides You're standing there stunned in the headlights, when I park in the drive You turned in to something, a wild display You'll be not forgotten. We came here to play
9.
All the miles out here seem somehow longer One by one we come closer The sun is shining on my shoulder Everythings moving in slow motion One ship on the oceans drifting One ships run a-ground I aint seen that ocean baby Since you turned me round My southern comforts knowing Heading north I’m rolling back Into your open arms My southern comforts knowing Anywhere I going All my roads lead right to you Some crimes down here they go unnoticed some drift in and out without a sound I’ve got nothing to hide and I’ve got time to take a ride Watching the birds on the ocean dive Watching the wild things Living how i want to live Since I spread my wings

about

Sean McMahon's poetic, visceral songs always sound perfectly poised. A gentle tumble of thoughts and emotions draped in timeless melodies. In that sense this album is no different, yet across his growing body of acclaimed work it’s his most personal and poignant, driven and inspired by wide open spaces, pandemic restrictions, a newborn child and learning to play the pedal steel.
"Rolling through the fields of rain, pushing the tide away, here comes the golden hour, on my windowpane” (‘Speak To Me’)

Some of the initial songs on Victoria were conceived on long weekly drives from the city to South Gippsland, where Sean was working following his 2019 album You Will Know When You’re There. As the early morning, late summer sun rose, so did Sean’s creative spirit – ideas began to form and melodies rolled around, seeking out words to graft themselves to. The energy of those open spaces and Sean’s connection to the countryside spoke to him. “It was then that I was forming a solid idea of what kind of a record I wanted to make,” he reflects.
Early in 2020 the pandemic arrived and Sean’s world of pastoral expanse retreated to a metropolitan lockdown. “For most of the recording, and a lot the writing, the idea of leaving Victoria any time soon seemed like a precarious ambition. And I think we felt isolated as a state in our experience of the whole ordeal... So here's to Victoria!” says Sean, revealing part of the meaning behind the album title.
One of the positives to come from the lockdown was having the luxury of time to spend on songwriting and recording. “It was a really interesting and rewarding experience having all this time to chip away at a record,” Sean says. “A year or so later once I felt like I had arrived at the finish line I realised the sound had developed so much, just from refining things in the mix – reverbs, synth sounds and so on – that I had to go back and completely remix it to bring it up to sit with the rest.”
Written, performed, recorded and mixed by Sean, with just some final mix assistance from Alex O'Gorman and mastering by Mikey Young, Victoria is truly a solo project. “I did everything on this album myself. I loved doing it. I just try to make whatever I have work – whether that’s limited skills on certain instruments or using a $200 drum kit. I think those limitations are part of what makes something unique and true. It wouldn't have the same kind of energy if I’d got in the best musicians to perform it. I don't like 'refined' so much.”
Across the album, Sean’s songs are laden with lyrical beauty, weaving vivid storytelling, confessional narratives and abstract musings, conveyed through timeless sounds inspired by classic vintage folk, rock and cosmic country.

At times you’ll be reminded of the poetic sway and strum of Jeff Tweedy and Wilco, the dreamy and surreal jangly rock of David Kilgour (The Clean) and The Byrds on ‘Remember The Trip’, the loose ramble of The Grateful Dead on ‘Speak To Me’ and the melancholic croon of Ron Sexsmith on songs such as ‘Two Days’, described by Sean as a song about “waiting for the song to form, waiting for it to arrive.”

On the single ‘Janelle’ he sings about a teenage friendship, set at an underage dance in a council hall, while on ‘Rose’ he writes about one of the album’s recurring themes of change and renewal. Just two of the many sublime examples of how the songs on this album belong pressed between the pages of a work of fiction, wherein adventure, discovery, love and reflection bind a story from some other time and place, albeit based on real events. It's escape-ism, born from the contrasting joys and hardship of the last few years.

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released April 14, 2023

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Sean McMahon Melbourne, Australia

With a string of independent releases to his name and over a decade of non stop writing, recording and performing, Sean McMahon has honed an undeniably genuine voice as a singer/songwriter, His songs are laden with lyrical beauty, weaving vivid story telling, confessional narratives and abstract musings through timeless sounds inspired by classic vintage folk, rock and cosmic country, ... more

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