Tasmanian singer/songwriter Marcus Wynwood has today returned with his 3rd EP ‘Never Stood Out And Never Fit In’; a self-produced collection of 7 sonically diverse tracks, delving into everything from delicate folk to fuzzed out, garage punk.
From the opening chords of the atmospheric, acoustic ballad ‘Never Left The Ground’, its immediately evident that ‘Never Stood Out and Never Fit In’ will be drawing on many different genres throughout it’s runtime- as per usual, for the Tassie troubadour. The EP isn’t completely missing the angsty punk Wynwood has become known for (with tracks such as ‘White Boy’ showcasing Marcus at his riff-heavy, blistering best); but tracks such as ‘Cabbage’ (a gentle, swaying folk tune featuring harpist Emily Sanzaro), and ‘Disjointed Digitalised’ (a chaotic, eerie sample-filled soundscape) showcase Wynwood’s willingness to dive into different styles headfirst, whilst still holding firmly on to his own musical identity.
Thematically, the EP matches the diversity of sounds through its lyrical content – celebrating individuality and refusing to stick to the norm.
“This EP is a bit of a mix of styles and ideas, but I feel like it comes together to create a coherent piece of work. The title “Never Stood Out and Never Fit In” describes how a lot of people feel about life sometimes. Too weird to be popular and not cool enough to hang with the cool kids. This idea could describe the tracks on this release!” MARCUS WYNWOOD
Mixed and recorded by Marcus in his hometown of Penguin, the EP was mastered by Grammy award-winning engineer William Bowden (Gotye, Living End, Kylie Minogue) in Launceston, Tasmania. Featuring 3 different collaborations throughout the EP, ‘Never Stood Out And Never Fit In’ see’s Wynwood bringing in many different textual elements of the EP, whether that be through different instrumentation or analog production techniques.
“This was a fun record to make. I got to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians such as Andrew Sulzberger of The Bad Dad Orchestra, Sheyana Wijesingha of the The Sheyana Band, and the amazing Emily Sanzaro who is a prominent Australian harpist who played on the track “Cabbage”. For that track I was going for Massive Attack or Radiohead style ambient weirdness, and she absolutely nailed it. There are tracks that use homemade tape loops I created on my old 4-track tape recorder.
I spent hours with a razor blade and sticky tape creating the right length tape loop to get the sounds I was after. Other songs were mixed down to a 1970s reel-to-reel tape machine and then recorded back to the computer after messing with the tape speed. I really enjoy the whole songwriting and production process, especially experimenting with old and new technology.” MARCUS WYNWOOD
Originally a member of punk band Captives, Marcus has played with huge names throughout his career; such as Ian Moss, Shihad, The Damned, COG, Tumbleweed, 28 Days and The Sweet; and has played at festivals such as Falls Festival, Party In the Paddock and Macadam Festival (Quebec, Canada). He has had strong radio support from the likes of Triple M and Triple j over the years, and praise from tastemakers such as The AU Review, Hysteria and Happy Mag along the way.
The next festival appearance for Marcus will be in early January 2025, when he joins the likes of Alex Lahey, Jack River and Josh Pyke at Good Gumnuts festival in Romaine, Tasmania.
UPCOMING SHOWS
TICKETS
Saturday October 19 Penguin Beer Co Penguin TAS
Saturday January 4-5 Good Gumnuts Festival Romaine TAS