Pippa Drysdale

Helium is a beautiful album with all the things you love about folk.Its refreshingly contemporary sound gives songs telling stories a new meaningful edge.Pippa's songwriting ability and sweet voice makes this CD 5 stars.My favourite is track 4,No Sharper edge.If you like authentic Jewel you'll love this one. - Cdbaby.com

"VH1.com calls Jewel a "contemporary folkie." How many times must I remind the world that Jewel is now in the business of pretty pink Schick razor commercials?
This week, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a true contemporary folkie, and the anatomy of her songwriting.
Pippa Drysdale, the descendent of a London Shakespearean actor, a "crazy Irish comedian," two painters and three musicians, picked up music five years ago.
In true gypsy fashion, she moved to New York City and learned to play guitar after a lifetime of stints of living all over the world - from Melbourne, Australia to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
"It has instilled in me a real need to travel, to see things, to learn about different people. I haven't always played music; I actually came to it quite late," she said.
In 2004, Drysdale released her debut Print of My Hand. The disc uncannily resembles Jewel's first release, full of catchy guitar, piano, one song with an almost-techno feel and most importantly, honest, heartfelt, poetic lyrics.
If you were a Jewel fan back in the day, go to CDBaby.com right now and find this CD. Don't be mistaken though, Pippa is no Jewel knockoff. On the contrary, I think she is what Jewel probably wished she still was: authentic.
The true "jewel" of this release is the first song Drysdale ever wrote, "Calamine Lotion Boy."
Drysdale explained the story behind this truly original song in an e-mail from Down Under:
"This is the first song I ever actually finished. I wrote it about two months after moving back to Australia - I was completely heartbroken over a guy I'd left behind in New York," she said.
"I used to go to the same bar every night to write and people-watch and the guy 'Calamine Lotion Boy' is written about was always there too."
"I guess the song is about finding solace in a relationship that you kind of know deep down is temporary, but that doesn't detract from its importance," she said.
Everyone needs to hear this song. It's so refreshing to hear a song tell a story again.
The CD's low points are "Karma is a Currency" and "Rover Clementine," but even these songs exhibit Drysdale's amazing, yet simple songwriting ability -- an endangered art, except among the purest of "contemporary folkies."
Drysdale got her method from a book called "The Artist's Way," she explained. She writes at least three pages of unedited, diary-like, stream-of-conscious thought every day.
"These help me to get my mind straight, figure out what's bothering me, moan, whine, etc., so I can get on with writing," she said.
"I keep a notepad with me all the time in case I think of something and need to jot it down," she said. "There's nothing worse than forgetting something you really wanted to use."
"But really, in all honesty, half the time I feel as though the songs write themselves. I sit down with my guitar and something comes out and I follow it."
"Some of them just come out in one long stream in a matter of half an hour. In the end I just try to be as honest as possible," she said.
Drysdale's favorite musicians include Ani DiFranco, Dar Williams, Suzanne Vega, Jewel and Joni Mitchell.
These influences shine through on Drysdale's other songs, including "Raymond Says," "Plastic Flowers" and "First Hand Soul."
Drysdale said she has already written most of the material for a second album, which she plans to record in May for an early 2006 release.
"I'm planning on keeping the next one completely organic, as I'm aiming at playing festivals from mid-next year onwards," she said.
If you're still searching for true female folk songwriters who aren't afraid to keep it sweet and simple, look into Pippa Drysdale. She's also got a Web site www.pippadrysdale.com.
Then, once you're a fan for life, look for her to pop up at a U.S. festival in the coming years."
- University of West Virginia

It seems that a lot of singer songwriters make music their job because it’s what they’ve done all their life. Perth’s freshest new folk talent, Pippa Drysdale is the exception to this trend; she’s been playing guitar just 6 years, but judging by the maturity reflected in her songs, you’d think she’s been making music forever. “When I was a really little kid, like till I was 7, I wanted to be a singer/songwriter. I remember spending about 8 hours one day trying to write a song on my dad’s keyboard. The song completely sucked and so I decided I’d better find something else to do….So I tried almost everything else, until 14 years later when I first picked up a guitar,” she explains.

She describes her sound as “raw, poetic, authentic folk pop”, and has often been compared to the likes of Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco and Jewel.
Pippa says she draws inspiration for songwriting from everything and everywhere. “I find the worst times for songwriting are those when I’m either numb or am feeling so much I can’t tell what’s what.”

As an independent artist (that is, not signed to a record label) she gets to call all the shots when it comes to recording, distributing, promoting and touring her music. She has musical freedom to do what she wants, when she wants, and utilizes websites such as cdbaby.com to market her albums, Print of My hand and Helium. Independence does have its drawbacks, however, and she finds the toughest thing to deal with is the lack of money.
WA is gaining a reputation for it’s independent folk and roots musos (think John Butler Trio, The Waifs and Xavier Rudd), and it sounds like Pippa too could find her own way to musical success. She’s received support and airplay on local radio stations RTRfm, Fremantle radio, Joyfm and Curtin Radio.

What I was interested to know though, was whether Pippa, as a solo artist, has any desire to write or perform with other musicians in the future. She says “I love playing solo because it keeps my songs as honest as they were when I wrote them. That said, I think collaborating must be a great experience in terms of learning from other people and having someone else there with you. Being solo can get kind of lonely sometimes.”

So where to next for Pippa Drysdale? After a number of successful gigs around Melbourne with Kanvas Grey, she says she’s keen to do some more shows on the East coast early next year. However, she’s got other plans in the pipeline before then. “We’re organizing a UK tour for December which should be cool after which I’ll probably start working on my next album…I guess I’ll just see what comes up”.

- Soulshine.com.au

"Print of My Hand" is Pippa Drysdale's debut CD. It is a collection of reflective, perspicacious and sometimes rather political songs. Her voice is somewhere between Jewel and Dido and the lyrics are reminiscent of artists as such as Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez. The most touching aspect of this album, however, is its honesty. For further information visit www.pippadrysdale.com
- Hamilton

"This Australian singer-songwriter can be wincingly honest in her sweet folk-pop songs and her open-hearted lyrical sentiments might strike a chord with anyone who's checked the horoscopes of their partner or ex-partner as well as their own, for example. Such guileless insights are part of her charm, though, as are her warm-throated vocals and the astute self-awareness of Kinda Guy."
Sydney Morning Herald, September 19th 2008. - Sydney Morning Herald, September 19th 2008

A very deceptive release this one. Easy to dismiss this miss as another girly singer songwriter. But after a few listens you can become entranced by these simple melodies and very direct and acute observations on love and life. One song that keeps coming back to haunt is 'Hope Wish Pray', which is a plea to a lover to think twice before leaving. The acoustic guitar on 'Helium' is really sublime always in the right place and belies the fact that Pippa is a relative newcomer. 'Clouds On Her Mind' with its "drowning in maybes covered in blue" is very atmospheric with the only added instrument sounding like an ethereal keyboard. 'No Sharper Edge' is a letter to her parents wishing she'd been warned about more dangerous things than running with scissors. 'Helium Balloon' is a great example of how well these songs are constructed and show Drysdale's dynamics in all their glory. Soft, loud, up and down all explored within the confines of one acoustic and voice. 'Kryptonite' is a good one about the super lover who doesn't exist and there's even a drum on this one. But don't get too excited, by the time you get to 'Phoenix' and 'Highway 64' it's back to six strings and a prayer. I can hear these songs with a band but it wouldn't be the same. It's better this way. Pure and simple.

Review by Slyvester Fox, Groove Magazine, pg 51, June/August 2006
- Groove Magazine, June/August 2006

“You have to study poetry. Let it become the marrow in your bones. It will make you impervious to the world’s soft decay.”
- Janet Fitch, White Oleander.

The above quote, from Janet Finch’s novel “White Oleander”, is one I have always thought contemporary musicians should take heed of. Modern popular music being the vapid wasteland of empty lyrics and bare midriffs that it is, the tabula rasa of IdolLand is just begging to be inscribed with something more unique, bold and meaningful.

This is why, for me, it was such a pleasure to be introduced to the music of Pippa Drysdale, peripatetic poetess and perceptive observer of Daily Life. A native of Cape Town, South Africa, Drysdale’s curious childhood was spent somewhere between her home town, Australia and Zimbabwe, an exotic cultural blend whose influence on her musical stylings was evident in her first album. “Print of My Hand”, her debut, was an acoustic guitar-strumming collection of songs inspired by her sojourn to New York. However, her investigation of life’s big themes, love, despair and hope, mad a musical recount of her experiences less like a window to The City That Never Sleeps and more like a guided tour of the human condition.

Drysdale returns to such themes in her follow-up album “helium”, conjugating spirituality and skepticism in a way that makes such strange bedfellows seem natural companions. This young songstress’s acoustic handiwork and dedication to her subject matter puts her among the greats. I don’t know if Drysdale has read White Oleander, but her music’s loveliness, its depth, its precision, its haunting quality, certainly recalls Finch’s trenchant words.

“Helium Balloon”, the track from which the album takes its name, is a gentle melody comprised of the acoustic kisses popularized by the likes of Jewel, Joan Baez and Ani, clearly Drysdale’s inspirations. The musical equivalent of having your lover whisper sweet somethings in your ear during a memorable interlude, “Helium Balloon” will float about in your thoughts long after its moment has passed.

“Rio De Janeiro”, the album’s ponderous sevenths track, meditates on the aspirations of a street urchin: “He sits with a paper cup/and he’ll open up the door/ if you give him a buck…/He buys a Lotto ticket/ ‘Cuz you never know, he might win.”

As Drysdale gently invites us to sympathise with this transient, she also asks us to reflect on our own banal dreams, paying off a mortgage, landing a nice job and home, the ordinary dreams of attaining a measure of security in a world that is anything but, and makes us realize we all have our own personal yet universal vision of happiness, disparities in class and geographical borders transcended by the common aspirations of the human spirit. We all have our own Rio.

The strangely debilitating effect of what is paradoxically said to be the most empowering of substances, romantic love, is identified by Drysdale as the hallucinogen of the heart in the song “Kryptonite”. Love’s ability to stifle and suppress, the opposite of its true purpose to fee and expand is exposed as the vast untapped potential of humanity’s most natural resource, the depth of which we so readily substitute for empty Hallmark clichés.

Drysdale, a singer and songwriter whose observations are devastatingly accurate, is wrong about one thing; love won’t sap her of her powers. “helium” is a beautifully executed album, lovingly crafted and with surgical precision. It is not a catchy pop collection that you will listen to everyday, but, as its title implies, it will uplift you when you need it most.

Pippa Drysdale is touring over to the eastern states for the month of May and then around the UK in December.

Article by Katrina Pullella from the May issue of Reakt Magazine (www.reakt.com.au)
- Reakt Magazine

A very deceptive release this one. Easy to dismiss this miss as another girly singer songwriter. But after a few listens you can become entranced by these simple melodies and very direct and acute observations on love and life. One song that keeps coming back to haunt is 'Hope Wish Pray', which is a plea to a lover to think twice before leaving. The acoustic guitar on 'Helium' is really sublime always in the right place and belies the fact that Pippa is a relative newcomer. 'Clouds On Her Mind' with its "drowning in maybes covered in blue" is very atmospheric with the only added instrument sounding like an ethereal keyboard. 'No Sharper Edge' is a letter to her parents wishing she'd been warned about more dangerous things than running with scissors. 'Helium Balloon' is a great example of how well these songs are constructed and show Drysdale's dynamics in all their glory. Soft, loud, up and down all explored within the confines of one acoustic and voice. 'Kryptonite' is a good one about the super lover who doesn't exist and there's even a drum on this one. But don't get too excited, by the time you get to 'Phoenix' and 'Highway 64' it's back to six strings and a prayer. I can hear these songs with a band but it wouldn't be the same. It's better this way. Pure and simple.

Review by Slyvester Fox, Groove Magazine, pg 51, June/August 2006
- Groove Magazine, June/August 2006

With an angelic voice and an obvious knack for deeper lyrical meaning, Drysdale proved to be a sweeter slice of Fiona's Apple. - Drum Magazine, April 2007

With an angelic voice and an obvious knack for deeper lyrical meaning, Drysdale proved to be a sweeter slice of Fiona's Apple. - Drum Magazine, April 2007

Opening for Perth sibling songstresses Blanche DuBois’ All the Things We Never Say album launch was Cape Town-born beauty Pippa Drysdale. Now based in Perth, Drysdale enchanted all with her folk-pop songs churning out sweet melodies and hits starting with Hope Wish Pray from her latest album Helium, a song that was a finalist in the WAM Song of the Year competition back in 2006. As she continued it became apparent that she drew most of her musical inspiration from past relationships, being a self-professed break-up song queen. For musical junkies of this genre, most would liken her to Lisa Loeb and perhaps Jewel. Drysdale’s skilled lyricism sees the audience through vivid imagery of songs such as Calamine Lotion Boy and Cherry Blossom Tree - Fasterlouder.com.au

Opening for Perth sibling songstresses Blanche DuBois’ All the Things We Never Say album launch was Cape Town-born beauty Pippa Drysdale. Now based in Perth, Drysdale enchanted all with her folk-pop songs churning out sweet melodies and hits starting with Hope Wish Pray from her latest album Helium, a song that was a finalist in the WAM Song of the Year competition back in 2006. As she continued it became apparent that she drew most of her musical inspiration from past relationships, being a self-professed break-up song queen. For musical junkies of this genre, most would liken her to Lisa Loeb and perhaps Jewel. Drysdale’s skilled lyricism sees the audience through vivid imagery of songs such as Calamine Lotion Boy and Cherry Blossom Tree - Fasterlouder.com.au

Speaking to Pippa Drysdale is like catching up with an old friend you haven't seen in forever…a lot of stuff has happened you don't know about, but the connection is still the same as it always was. This is partly because she can articulate herself with absolute coherence, but it is mostly on account of the fact that her mind is a well of universal philosophical questions and answers. Fate, existentialism, the human condition…these things propel Drysdale, whose musical tales-from-the-soul bear the mark of an artist unafraid of standing in the crosshairs.

A recurring vessel for Drysdale's philosophical meanderings is the metaphor of the broken relationship which, on face value, translates to anyone who has loved and lost, but which comes loaded with a deeper set of musings that are more about the self and its purpose than they are the tedium of forgotten lovers.

"I guess [breakup songs] provide me with a kind of catharsis," Drysdale summarises. "I remember reading a quote that was something like 'writing is the art of finding out what you think' and that's what breakup songs really are for me. Once I've written them I can look at them and think 'yeah, that's really true…that's why this isn't working'. A couple of the songs on that album were actually written about breakups that hadn't even happened yet. So I guess I should have taken them as a sign that things weren't going so well…"

Or as a sign that many songwriters simply can't function without a demon to exorcise…to the point where self-sabotage is often a natural play.

While deliberating pulling apart her own relationships is definitely not beyond a woman as intellectually and spiritually thirsty as Pippa Drysdale (smarter people get bored quicker, go figure), the way the world around her shapes and shifts seems essential for her well being as a person and as a songwriter. The possibility that the world may not accept or enjoy the results, however, are of no concern to Drysdale, for whom songwriting is somewhat of a self-constructed psychiatrist.

"I'm not really that scared of how people react to the songs," she says candidly. "I guess I figure that if they like it they'll buy it and if they don't, they won't. Simple. Besides, I think I've worn out my fear muscle over the past few months. Making this album was so much fun and I loved every moment of it, but first I was frightened that Michael and Matt [producers Carpenter and Fell respectively] wouldn't think much of the songs. Then when that didn't happen I thought I'd do a crap job of recording them. Then when that didn't happen I thought that the guys pressing it would mistakenly press the wrong thing. So no, I think I'm all 'feared' out. Now I'm ready to just let it go." She says.

"Honestly, I'm not at all careful about how I word things when I'm writing songs. Whatever comes out is generally what stays on the page. I've found that when I mess with things too much, the songs become too cerebral and, well, fake. I've tried writing carefully and those are always the songs that get tossed out first when new ones get written. Besides, it takes some of the fun out of it if you're too careful. I guess each song I write reveals me a little bit more than the last, at least that's what I aim for. I mean, what's the point in saying something if it's not true. That's not to say I never falter on that count, I do."

With a background in acting as well as music (the former of which seems to have been an excuse to travel on a whim), Pippa Drysdale's ability to confront her fears and put herself on the precipice of potential embarrassment is the vital link between her honesty as a songwriter and her confidence as a performer…which will come in very handy when, after her launch, she relocates to the unfamiliar setting of London.

True to her character, though, much of Drysdale's relocation is being left open. "I have an air ticket, a place to stay when I get there, and a few shows/bookers lined up. That part is calculated. The rest is being left somewhat up to fate. But then again, it's unlikely that I'll just sit around waiting for something to happen. I'm told that I work hard at what I do. I don't feel like I do, but that's what other people tell me."

Nobody feels like they're working at all, let alone hard, when they're doing what they love, and while it's saddening to lose Pippa Drysdale to the slow-dripping cultural exodus that Perth has always been cursed with, it's thrilling to know that one of our own will be spreading the good word elsewhere in the world.

Interview by Mike Wafer
- Xpress Magazine May 22, 2008

Speaking to Pippa Drysdale is like catching up with an old friend you haven't seen in forever…a lot of stuff has happened you don't know about, but the connection is still the same as it always was. This is partly because she can articulate herself with absolute coherence, but it is mostly on account of the fact that her mind is a well of universal philosophical questions and answers. Fate, existentialism, the human condition…these things propel Drysdale, whose musical tales-from-the-soul bear the mark of an artist unafraid of standing in the crosshairs.

A recurring vessel for Drysdale's philosophical meanderings is the metaphor of the broken relationship which, on face value, translates to anyone who has loved and lost, but which comes loaded with a deeper set of musings that are more about the self and its purpose than they are the tedium of forgotten lovers.

"I guess [breakup songs] provide me with a kind of catharsis," Drysdale summarises. "I remember reading a quote that was something like 'writing is the art of finding out what you think' and that's what breakup songs really are for me. Once I've written them I can look at them and think 'yeah, that's really true…that's why this isn't working'. A couple of the songs on that album were actually written about breakups that hadn't even happened yet. So I guess I should have taken them as a sign that things weren't going so well…"

Or as a sign that many songwriters simply can't function without a demon to exorcise…to the point where self-sabotage is often a natural play.

While deliberating pulling apart her own relationships is definitely not beyond a woman as intellectually and spiritually thirsty as Pippa Drysdale (smarter people get bored quicker, go figure), the way the world around her shapes and shifts seems essential for her well being as a person and as a songwriter. The possibility that the world may not accept or enjoy the results, however, are of no concern to Drysdale, for whom songwriting is somewhat of a self-constructed psychiatrist.

"I'm not really that scared of how people react to the songs," she says candidly. "I guess I figure that if they like it they'll buy it and if they don't, they won't. Simple. Besides, I think I've worn out my fear muscle over the past few months. Making this album was so much fun and I loved every moment of it, but first I was frightened that Michael and Matt [producers Carpenter and Fell respectively] wouldn't think much of the songs. Then when that didn't happen I thought I'd do a crap job of recording them. Then when that didn't happen I thought that the guys pressing it would mistakenly press the wrong thing. So no, I think I'm all 'feared' out. Now I'm ready to just let it go." She says.

"Honestly, I'm not at all careful about how I word things when I'm writing songs. Whatever comes out is generally what stays on the page. I've found that when I mess with things too much, the songs become too cerebral and, well, fake. I've tried writing carefully and those are always the songs that get tossed out first when new ones get written. Besides, it takes some of the fun out of it if you're too careful. I guess each song I write reveals me a little bit more than the last, at least that's what I aim for. I mean, what's the point in saying something if it's not true. That's not to say I never falter on that count, I do."

With a background in acting as well as music (the former of which seems to have been an excuse to travel on a whim), Pippa Drysdale's ability to confront her fears and put herself on the precipice of potential embarrassment is the vital link between her honesty as a songwriter and her confidence as a performer…which will come in very handy when, after her launch, she relocates to the unfamiliar setting of London.

True to her character, though, much of Drysdale's relocation is being left open. "I have an air ticket, a place to stay when I get there, and a few shows/bookers lined up. That part is calculated. The rest is being left somewhat up to fate. But then again, it's unlikely that I'll just sit around waiting for something to happen. I'm told that I work hard at what I do. I don't feel like I do, but that's what other people tell me."

Nobody feels like they're working at all, let alone hard, when they're doing what they love, and while it's saddening to lose Pippa Drysdale to the slow-dripping cultural exodus that Perth has always been cursed with, it's thrilling to know that one of our own will be spreading the good word elsewhere in the world.

Interview by Mike Wafer
- Xpress Magazine May 22, 2008