Paul Dempsey creates music for himself.
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He stays focused on getting the songs sounding the way he wants them to, making sure he is pleased with the product and then simply hoping for the best.
“There is an element of stupidity and arrogance in thinking you could tailor something and create something that everyone will love,” he said.
“The most important thing is that it's my creation and only get to do it once.
“So you have to please yourself and hope for the best. That's the way I've operated and on this album my hopes have come true in that I got what I wanted and people seem to enjoy it.”
Dempsey’s latest album Strange Loop is has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and responses from fans.
“I’ve been really surprised at the response, it’s been overwhelmingly positive which is wonderful,” he said.
While he is considered by many to be one of the best lyricists in Australia, Dempsey said writing the album was a long process.
“It is a long process, which did come easily and naturally,” he said.
“But you do go through a lot of work and fumbling way towards something you are happy with then editing and drafting until it is exactly how I want it to be.”
The most recent single for from Strange loop is Idiot Oracle.
While the singer-songwriter stays out of the management pow-wow about which songs will be singles and which won’t, Dempsey is more than happy to focus his creativity in putting together a unique video clip.
Idiot Oracle has a dream sequence type plot to it that sees a number of Dempseys performing in a forest.
“The song is very much about dreams and we wanted video to have strange, unexpected things happen like they do in your dreams,” he said. “We wanted it to begin nicely and look good and as it progresses you realise it’s not quite reality.”
Dempsey will kick off a Strange Loop tour in Castlemaine at a sold out Theatre Royal on August 6.
The last time he performed at the 162 -year-old theatre was in 2013 with Something For Kate. “I can't wait. I love the Theatre Royal, it’s always a great time. It will be winter but I want people to come in, get warm, get a drink and for me to say ‘here's some music’.”
After the tour, Dempsey will play a few shows with Something For Kate at Day on the Green.
“We will go straight into rehearsal for that. It’s only a few shows but they're big shows,” he said. “We go way back with all the bands on the bill. We have played together in different places million times but never been on the road for a tour.”