Known to most music fans as the tall, handsome maestro who croons in the centre of the chaotic live band The Cat Empire, Felix Riebl is about to expose his intimate side.
On a whim while living in New York in January 2010, the singer and songwriter wrote a solo record called Into The Rain.
He then returned to Melbourne and recorded with backing from members of The Cat Empire and The Bamboos.
The album then sat on his shelf as The Cat Empire soon recorded and toured their fourth studio release, Cinema.
Emotionally and musically direct, and centred about sparse piano and guitar, Into The Rain is a world away from the funk-reggae-ska hybrid of The Cat Empire.
But on the band’s records, there were hints at this side of Riebl’s songwriting.
“The three songs that come to mind are No Longer There, Miserere and Reasonably Fine off Cinema,” says Riebl, who is on the phone from his home in Melbourne.
“They’re all songs that could have been on [Into The Rain].
“This album has been about songwriting and simple melodies and using guitars, which The Cat Empire rarely does.
“I think it was a chance to get away from the chaos of The Cat Empire and do something that was personal and based on my own songwriting.”
Before Into The Rain flowed out of Riebl’s conscious, he had been living in New York working on a very different project.
“It was crazy European-sounding rock – more electronic,” explains Riebl.
“I feel like on any given day I could write different songs. At the moment I’m also working on an album which is almost like a parade or a big funeral procession, which is really drawing on a lot of the Latin influences I have.
“But there was something that got unlocked in this kind of writing [on Into The Rain].
“There was some dark days before the album was made.
“I was pretty down and out for a couple of months there.
“The songs really came out of that and based on the intensity of what I was feeling, that’s how they got written.”
The singer’s many musical outlets and tastes can be attributed to the two cultural aspects of his upbringing.
“Half of my life growing up was spent identifying with the European side of my family, listening to a lot of classical music, which led me to songwriters like Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave who had drawn on that style,” Riebl says.
“The other side of that coin was living in Melbourne, playing football, listening to ‘70s rock.
“They were both really strong influences. When it came down to finding a single voice and approach it was always up in the air, until now.”
Like many other artists, suppressing the creative juices is not an easy task for Riebl.
“I can’t help writing songs. I’ve done it since I was a teenager – it’s just one of those things I do,” he admits.
“I’ve been writing songs for a long time and not all of them are Cat Empire songs.
“I’ve been writing more and more personal stuff, often based on instruments that aren’t in The Cat Empire.
“But [Into The Rain] was really quite unexpected. I’d been working on material that was pretty different to this.
“I’d been living in New York and finished [writing] the album over there, more or less, and I came back to Australia and within a week I was in the studio and recording it.
“It was an unexpected album to make, but it feels like a finished piece of work and I’m releasing it.”
By working with different instruments, Riebl’s musical direction continues to shift.
“There’s something about having guitars on the songs that is very different to anything I’ve ever done, so it has been a number of years coming to write something like this,” Riebl says.
“Writing for The Cat Empire is very dynamic and very rhythmic and chaotic.
“In this album the intensity comes from the emotion of the lyrics, rather than the changing, furious nature of the music.”
Singing over softer, more considered arrangements on his solo record has allowed Riebl to discover more about his voice.
“Songwriting’s always about finding your own voice,” he says.
“The way the lyrics are written can trick you into discovering something.
“When I started out with The Cat Empire, I never considered myself a singer.
“I went from songs that were half spoken to songs that were sung. This album is very melodic and the strange quality to my voice is still there, but they’re direct songs.
“It’s been an evolution for me to consider that I could do this.”
Despite his personal revelations, there’s one aspect of Into The Rain that Riebl is the most happy with.
“The thing I’m most proud of about this album is that it feels like an album,” he explains.
“It plays from beginning to end. It can live in the walls of someone’s house, or be played on headphones, and still tell a story.”
q Into The Rain will be released on July 15. Felix Riebl will perform songs from the record at Lizotte’s Newcastle on Wednesday, August 3. Go to www.lizottes.com.au to book or for more information. The Cat Empire will headline the Funk N Grooves festival, Pokolbin, on Saturday, September 10. Go to www.funkngrooves.com.au for more information.
The Maitland Mercury has three double passes to Riebl’s performance at Lizotte’s Newcastle to give away.
For your chance to win, get your copy of today's Mercury and fill in the coupon.
Email a friend