Enviroment

Inspired by tragedy, that young Jack River, she just keeps rollin’ along

Holly Rankin used a terrible loss as the springboard to her deeply personal brand of storytelling. S..

Holly Rankin used a terrible loss as the springboard to her deeply personal brand of storytelling. She's now channelled it into her debut album.

As a kid, Holly Rankin was always playing music. She started learning violin at just four, and over the years picked up piano, trombone and guitar, learning largely by ear. But it was only after the tragic drowning of her sister, Shannon, that Rankin started writing songs of her own.

"At 14, you're changing so much anyway, the world is opening up. And then this happens," says Rankin, now 26. "I just felt so overwhelmed by thought, so full of emotion, that there was no way I could express them except through songs.

"I don't know how else I could have let it out. You can't overwhelm your mum or your dad or your family. I was creating another world in which I could release my emotions."

Growing up in Forster, on the NSW coast, Rankin was "obsessed with spelling", a diligent diary-keeper, a surfer, a budding ecologist, and an SRC representative. In short, she says, "the kind of kid who emailed the local MP, then had them come into school to answer questions from the [students]".

Jack River (aka Holly Rankin).

Photo: Dana Trippe

But her love of music always ran deep, in particular for the old folkies – Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell – who "became parental figures" in her mind. "I'd listen obsessively, read about them, and store them as these pillars in my psyche. I felt like their music was a stable home, whereas my family life was so unstable."

Rankin's songs were so personal she didn't play them live, but she did put a couple of them on MySpace, under the name Isabelle Fire. Her transformative moment came at 17 when she snuck her way into Bluesfest, talked her way backstage, and met Julia Stone and producer Govinda Doyle ("it was surreal, like I was living my dream"). She recorded her first-ever EP, with Doyle, "the day she finished school".

The plan was always to record under a moniker ("I wanted to make other worlds, to explore them, and not feel tied to myself"), and after moving to Sydney Rankin recorded first as Desire The Horse before eventually settling on Jack River, the "pirate name" she had given herself in childhood.

Her chosen handle had the effect of playing with gender. "I thought the way people conceived of women in music was so tacky," she says. "I wanted to throw people, make them actually have to listen to the music."

Jack River finds the colour amid the gloom.

Photo: Darrn Luk

After releasing her debut Jack River EP Highway Songs No.2 in 2016, followed by a run of impressive singles, Rankin is finally releasing her debut LP.

Sugar Mountain – named after her favourite Neil Young song, not the Melbourne festival – is filled with songs gathered from across the years, many of which are working through the effects of grief.

"The album was made across this extremely dark period of my life that I used music to heal myself through," Rankin says. "The lyrics are about resilience in some form, and finding strength. No matter how dark the song, there's always going to be something in there about pushing out towards the light, towards something better."

Rankin sees the record as reflecting herself: music – this "spiritual, supernatural" thing – having been a way to get through dark times, to transform her life.

"For me, it's this incredible work of youth and sparkle and grit and glamour and colour, that has become my life through this obsession with music," she says of the record.

"I've found so much strength in all the songs. I'm hoping that other people, especially young girls, can find the strength in it that I've found myself."

Sugar Mountain is released today. Jack River plays a series of shows around the county in September. Details: jackrivermusic.com

‘Extended run’ of heat set to last all week

The heat that has plagued Australia’s south and west is set to linger. But when the mercury does finally drop, it looks like rain will replace the warmth – at least in the country’s south east.

Both Perth and Melbourne have both been solidly in heatwaves.

On Sunday, Perth recorded an extraordinary six days in a row surpassing 40C. That’s a heat feat not seen since a string of scorching days in Adelaide in 2009.

Some blessed relief from the unbearable heat in Perth is due for the coming days – it’s now just going to be moderately baking. But another 40C day is expected soon enough.

Melbourne hit 32.6C on Sunday following a 32.3C high on Saturday. The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has said the city is set for an “extended run” of heat this week.

Most of Victoria and Tasmania will be in low intensity heatwave week with highs in Melbourne of 34C on multiple days.

But the monsoon is getting stronger in the country’s north and that’s sending rain towards the south and east as the week progresses.

Sky News Weather meteorologist Rob Sharpe said a low pressure system forming around northern Australia could deliver 100mm or more of rain over the Top End and had the potential to form into a cyclone.

“Tropical moisture is well and truly in the mix and is aiding the heavy falls we’ve been seeing in many parts of the country.

“That wet weather is generally edging slightly eastwards. So there’s potential for south eastern Australia to see a lot of rainfall towards the back end of the week, with heavy falls a threat,” he said.

But that’s not for a few days yet. Up until at least Thursday, Melbourne should be dry with 33-34C maximums most days and nights only dipping down to 21C or so.

The BOM has warned it will be humid and there is the chance of storms.

Temperatures could come down from Thursday with the possibility of some substantial rain leading into the weekend.

Across the Bass Strait and Tasmania is in the same heatwave, but the maximums will be far lower than Victoria.

Hobart is looking at a week of temperatures in the mid-twenties and dawn lows of 16C. Just like Victoria, the Apple Isle will be dry until the end of the week when some showers are likely.

Perth set to cool down … finally

On the tail end of the systems that’s caused so much rain in the centre of South Australia, Adelaide has seen some decent falls this weekend with 23mm of rain falling on Saturday and almost another 20mm on Sunday.

There will be some warmth and humidity to begin the week in Adelaide with a high of 29C on Monday rising to 31C by Wednesday before a few days in the mid-twenties. Minimums will be around 20C.

There could be some showers on Tuesday.

Monday could still a storm or two and some rain in areas most affected by the rain this weekend including Whyalla, Port August and Port Lincoln. Floods remain a risk in the mod north, Flinders Ranges, west coast and Eyre and Yorke peninsulas.

There is the possibility of up to 120mm of rain falling into Monday n some areas.

Across the Nullarbor and the low intensity heatwave should move away from Perth on Monday but could continue around the Gascoyne.

Monday to Thursday should see highs of between 31C and 33C in Perth with mid teen minimums. That’s far cooler than the last week. But come Friday and the mercury is set to rise once again with a possibility of 40C on Sunday.

Summery and settled in east

Wet in Darwin to begin the week with 10-35mm falling on Monday and a further 8-20mm on Tuesday. Thunderstorms could crop up most days. Warm with highs of 31-33C this week and 25C lows.

The east coast should be relatively settled and summery. This week will see a run of 30C plus days in Brisbane with 31C the norm. Overnight, it should dip down to 20C. Some showers are possible on Wednesday.

A possible shower or two in Sydney on Monday but nothing too heavy. The rest of the week is looking dry.

Maximum temperatures on the Harbour City of 26C on Monday rising to 28C on Wednesday and then as much as 30C on Friday. Lows overnight of around 19C.

Dry in Canberra with highs of 27-29C but potentially up to 31C on Friday. Temperatures should fall to the mid-teens after dark.

SOURCE

Enviroment

So, we guess this means Beyonce and Jay-Z are OK then

The first couple of pop music took the world by surprise by dropping their first album together last..

The first couple of pop music took the world by surprise by dropping their first album together last weekend. As you'd expect, it's a statement.

There is arguably no couple better at controlling their own press than Beyonce and Jay-Z. When a video surfaced in 2014 showing Bey's younger sister Solange attacking her brother-in-law in an elevator, rumours of a strained marriage proliferated.

Rather than battle the tabloids, the spouses used the gossip to fuel the creation of two critically beloved, commercially successful records: Beyonce's Lemonade and Jay-Z's 4:44. And, in them, they offered just as many details about their private lives as they chose.

Beyonce and Jay-Z on stage in France for the 2014 On the Run tour.

Photo: Rob Hoffman

Now the couple have continued their domination of pop music, surprising the world last Saturday by releasing their joint album Everything Is Love, which is something of a sequel to those two solo records. Though they have collaborated for at least 15 years, this marks their first joint album, which they dropped under the name The Carters.

The record is a victory lap from a couple who have mined their relationship for universal truths and then presented them as art. It's a fierce love letter to success, to family, to blackness – but, most of all, to each other.

Artwork for the album Everything is Love by The Carters, aka Beyonce and Jay-Z.

Photo: Karl Quinn

Lyrically, it primarily focuses on two aspects of the Carters' lives: their marriage and their success. (more…)

Enviroment

Rachel Griffiths: female characters are finally getting real on screen

Almost a year into the #MeToo era, Rachel Griffiths believes the likes of Mystery Road, Wentworth, P..

Almost a year into the #MeToo era, Rachel Griffiths believes the likes of Mystery Road, Wentworth, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Top of the Lake show that female characters are finally coming of age on Australian screens.

In a spirited speech at the launch of a new state government scheme to support more women directors in television, the actor-turned-director said it was exciting to see female characters move beyond "the typical tropes of 'likable, f—able, adorable'" to "more complex depictions of female experience" recently.

Happy to see "more complex depictions of female experience": Rachel Griffiths (left) with Leah Purcell at the launch of #SheDirects.

Photo: Louie Douvis

While she acknowledged there were male directors who created fresh and compelling women characters, Griffiths said the "male gaze" often reduced them to colouring the characters of their male counterparts.

"[They are created to] make him hot, make him authentic, make him empathetic, make him fatherly, make him conflicted, make him grieve," she said. "In the male gaze, we are so often not the gatekeepers; we're not the ferryman. Sometimes the mentor but usually only ironically, like Judi Dench's M…

"Under-written and under-observed, brought into our sexual awareness precociously and prepubescent in order to accommodate the male libido.

"Often in television we're used by lazy writers and producers who can think of nothing more interesting this week than 'let's have her have sex with X' or 'discover she's a lesbian – for an episode'."

Griffiths, who is about to begin editing the Melbourne Cup drama Ride Like A Girl after finishing the shoot, endorsed Hollywood star Sandra Bullock's recent comment that it was time for women to "stop being polite" about gender equality. (more…)