tunesday – first times with elsie lange

What better way to celebrate Elsie Lange’s first record – The Normal Discontents of Living – than getting to the bottom of a whole bunch of Elsie’s other first times? Trick question – there is no better way! So, dear reader, feast your eyes on Elsie’s first times below. When you’re done having a squiz, go and feast your ears on Elsie’s debut album, too. We trust you’ll fall in love with it as much as we have.

The first thing I did today…I reheated some coffee in a saucepan and squeezed a decadent amount of honey into it. I took it back to bed and let it rest on my stomach while I replied to emails and listened to a podcast.

The first memory I have…Descending down a flight of stairs in my dad’s arms at Christmas time. I was maybe three years old and we entered a dim, yellow-lit shop with foggy windows. I remember wearing mittens and the smell of pine and being given a tiny Father Christmas figurine that I still have.

The first song I ever wrote…I’m fairly sure it was a song called “Hey La La”, which I wrote for a family friend’s 40th birthday when I was seven or eight. The lyrics were “hey, you’re great, I just wanted to say, happy bee-day, happy bee-day, hey la, la, la, la, la”. Simple yet effective. A friend of mine still sings it to me from time to time, sporting a sly smile. 

The first musician I saw perform live…Probably Hilltop Hoods at the now-defunct Bass in the Dust festival in Alice Springs/Mparntwe, but I also remember being wowed at age 11 by The Waifs and Jet at the same festival a year later. It might also have been the iconic Warumpi Band, who I saw really young. We had so many great artists come through Central Australia – not to mention the local talent. I’m struggling to figure out which came first, but all of them gave me that feeling of buzzing promise – like not everything was as far as away as it often seemed, living in the middle of the country.

The first person I played music in front of…My mum. She’s always played music and I remember being so excited to show her something new I’d learnt on the piano.

The first time I left home…I left home when I finished high school and moved to the big smoke, Melbourne/Naarm, to study. I stayed there for a decade and moved back to the Northern Territory last year. I think of both places as “home” now. 

The first song I finished on The Normal Discontents of Living…"Sally". After I wrote it, I just felt so excited to get into a studio. That kick-started my working with Liam “Snowy” Halliwell on the record.

The first time I’ll play the new album live…Hopefully in July or August, in either Alice Springs or Melbourne – and I can’t wait.