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Archie Roach has announced a reimagined version of his debut album, ‘Charcoal Lane’, to mark 30 years since its original release.
‘The Songs of Charcoal Lane’ was recorded in Roach’s kitchen in southwest Victoria during lockdown with musicians Stephen Magnusson and Sam Anning, along with recording engineer Hadyn Buxton.
The year after its 1990 release, ‘Charcoal Lane’ won two ARIA Awards – for Best New Talent and Best Indigenous Release – while the single ‘Took The Children Away’ won an Australian Human Rights Achievement Award. It was the first time a songwriter had won the award.
In a press statement, Roach said the relaxed recording environment gave the new album “an intimacy [and] a closeness”. “I have been so much more relaxed sitting here at my kitchen table with a cup of tea, looking out at my yard, recording the songs, maybe doing 2 to 3 takes. When we listen back to the recordings you can sense that there’s a different feel, a more relaxed approach to the songs, it’s more earthy,” he said.
“Over the past 30 years I have written most of my songs at the kitchen table, when my children were little and running around. Ruby and the children were the first to hear them. As I have matured so have the songs, it’s like they have grown with me. I think I understand them a lot better now than I did 30 years ago… it’s probably how they should have been sung.”
