Those with a penchant for sounds from Down Under may recall Magic Dirt who spent the 1990s supporting the likes of Pavement, Sonic Youth and Hole on their occasional trips down under. An ill-feted relationship with Warners in the USA was a minor blip in a career that saw them elevated to being one of Australia's best-loved alternative acts. Now, vocalist/guitarist Adalita Srsen has released her debut solo album Liberation Music in her home country, with a UK release penciled in for 2012. In the meantime, The Passport Label are releasing a single, 'The Repairer' on 5th September. With comparisons to the likes of PJ Harvey and Cat Power floating around, TMF thought it was time to catch up with her.

Hey Adalita! Welcome to The Music Fix. For the benefit of our readers who don't know much about you, give us the lowdown on who you are and what it is you do.

I'm from a large seaside industrial town called Geelong. I used to be the lead singer and rhythm guitarist in Australian indie band, Magic Dirt. In 2008 I started working on my solo music and released my first solo record in March of this year.

Buried deep in the recesses of your mind, there must be a memory of a moment when you thought 'It would probably be cool to make music / play in a band.' Can you remember when that was - and what inspired that thought?

It was never an ambition of mine, more like something fun to do with friends. And then I guess it evolved into something more. People started to come to our shows and Bam! We were at the right place at the right time.

We loved stuff like Dinosaur Jnr., The Stooges, MC5, The Pixies, Mudhoney.


Conversely, has there ever been a moment when you thought playing in a band was a bad idea?

No, never. It was fucking great playing in a band like Magic Dirt. We got along really well, we absolutely loved touring and we were very lucky that ego never came into the equation. It was a very relaxed, democratic band. We had a lot of fun.

TMF has tickets (with your name on!) for a pretty long stay on a desert island. What kind of things would you take with you?

Guitar, camera, pen, paper.

Tell us a little about the process of recording your new album. Was it a project you were working towards, or did you realise 'Hey, we've got enough new material for an album!'

It was definitely a project that Dean Turner (Magic Dirt bassist) encouraged me to start. I had some demos of most of the material and Dean and I would sit down and go through them all and pick the ones that stood out. It took around two to three years to write and record the album.

The longest and most difficult part was mixing it because it was so idiosyncratic. And because the set up was really just one vocal and guitar, no band, it was trickier to get the balance right. It had to sound as good as possible because there was no way to mask any rough edges. They just ended up sticking out - which I reckon is kinda cool anyway.


Do you have plans to take the new material on the road? What about Europe? (We need your fine Australian dollars right about now.)

I would really like to tour the solo thing. I'm not sure if I'll make it out in time for this record as it's wrapping up here in Oz and I'll be working on the next one soon.

It doesn't really matter when I come out - I think as long as there's an opportunity I would love to play in Europe.

Lastly, let's say there's this guy. Maybe he writes for an online music site. He's got a big crush on the girl in the local sandwich store but he doesn't know how to tell her. What would you suggest? A carefully hand-written baguette order? Roses? Or should he lean over the counter, steal the cheese and hope she chases after him?

Have your iPod on just before you make your order. See if she asked what you're listening to. Music is a good place to start.

'The Repairer' is released on 5 September.