Departures - Bernard Fanning

With a post about Australia yesterday, it only seemed natural to write about Australian music today. One of the things that piqued my interest in Australia from a very young age was music. This began at the ripe old age of six and will have to be elaborated on during a different blog post (one in which you will think I am a crazy lady). What is important to know now, is that I quickly became a fan of Australian music.

One such band that I came to love was Powderfinger. They were like no other band I had heard, and their singer had a very distinguishable voice that was like none other. Their sound was an instant success in my book. A couple years back, Powderfinger broke up. I very was sad. Yes, I get sad over things like these, don't you?

There is, however, a happy ending. Bernard Fanning, the singer of Powderfinger, released his second solo album, Departures, this month. I was looking forward to the release of this album for two months. Yup, two whole months I was counting down to the release date because I'm crazy like that. When the album was released, I hopped on iTunes to download it and to my horror I could only download it if I had an Australian iTunes account. Say whaaaaaat?

By Australian iTunes account, they mean an Australian address and an Australian iTunes card or credit card. Sad face. I have neither. Until.....

Me being the crazy lady that I am, I posted on Facebook about my sadness over iTunes' inability to realize that I should be able to download Australian music. And to my rescue, came an old friend of mine that I met in college that just happens to be Australian and just happens to know how to trick iTunes so that I could listen to Australian music once and for all. Haha! Screw you, iTunes gods!

And that my friends, was the longest intro to some music videos I have ever written. Sorry for that.

To be a bit more serious, when it comes down to it, Bernard Fanning truly knows how to craft an amazing song regardless of having a band to back him or not. He uses uncommon melodies and beautiful harmonies in a way I have heard few songwriters do. I leave you with Battleships, his new single from the album, and Departures (Blue Toowong Skies), an exemplary of his songwriting abilities that is written about his father's passing.

What music have you been listening to these days? Do you know or love any Australian bands?