album review: washington, i believe you liar

Long time Washington fans are going to feel like they’ve accidentally slept with the same person twice when they hear the debut album of the sexiest glasses-donning songstress in the entertainment industry.

However, that’s not to say that having heard half of the tracks before is going to detract from the enjoyment of this album, as Megan Washington delivers a rather literal journey through her life, beginning with opening track, ‘1997’, or, the year she moved from Papua New Guinea to Australia.

As Washington says, “I tried to make it almost chronological as I wanted it to have a narrative arc because in this climate where people are buying just one song, I wanted people to invest in the album as an album, to experience an arc like albums used to have” (jmag, issue no. 42). And although Washington is one of the only people who could gauge whether she did indeed succeed in creating an album that would accurately depict her formative adolescent years, it is nonetheless something of a universal journey that she invites us to accompany her on.

That copout of a genre, indie, is probably the best way to describe where this record is going to fit into your collection, but it does no justice to Megan Washington’s influences or the range of musical styles she includes on this album, all of which are aptly supported by her unique and experienced voice.

The title track incorporates an arrangement usually heard in stage musicals rather than in contemporary music and though she doesn’t shy away from a bit of raunch in her lyrics (‘Do you know what’s in my head when I’m below you?’ – how did this get past commercial radio censors??), she communicates it in a way that makes you think about the words and simultaneously glaze over them in favour of dancing. Her keyboard playing tends to be dainty and despite portraying some rather sombre themes from time to time, it’s difficult to listen to this album and not feel uplifted.

Washington is closer in age to Lisa Mitchell but with an edge and disclosure the latter wouldn’t dare, and with a frivolity and openness about her youthful mistakes that singers like Clare Bowditch and Sarah Blasko have largely moved on from.

Even with many amazing female musicians in Australia, Washington offers something unique and we can only hope this is merely the first of many albums.