Hillbilly pop band, The Pigs, have recently released their most personal offering to date, Hillbilly Synthesiser.
The album was conceived somewhere between the rugged mountains of Australia and the electronic musical heart of Berlin, Germany, with the result being a unique collection of tracks from rocking tunes to bluegrass-laced numbers to their first love song.
Hillbilly Synthesiser is more pop-rock than any of their previous four albums, with The Pigs’ greatest wish being for listeners to squeal over the new offerings and listen multiple times to truly appreciate the lyrics of these songs.
“We spent a lot of time getting the right sounds for each song and using recording techniques to capture that,” T-Bone Pig said. “This album is very song based".
Listeners are loving The Pigs new material with the first single, title track, Hillbilly Synthesiser, hitting the radio charts and coming in at No. 7 on the AMRAP AirIt Regional Chart in release week.
The single tells of the journey to a shack in the mountains of Australia where they find their friend building a homespun electronic instrument with inspiration from plenty of moonshine.
“I really love old synthesisers,” Stretch Pig said. “My imagination just went wild as I pictured this primitive, homemade synth that mythically comes to life.”
Their musical experimentation sets The Pigs apart from their musical compadres.
“The fact that it is all original means we’ve got some stories to tell with this album,” Stretch said.
“There are a whole lot of interesting characters in there from the couple who get together and decide not to have sex to the Robot Goat that was created from a secret government experiment and becomes friends with a family and is on the run.
“We want the listener to have fun with this album and we have a few different kinds of fun there.
‘‘We have funny songs, catchy tunes that we hope people enjoy and a couple of songs on the bluegrassy edge of what we do and others that are more pop rock than we’ve ever done before.”
T-Bone Pig said that they had written the best songs they could, resulting in the album they wanted to make.
“We didn’t want to force anything on anybody, but we wanted to make the best album we could and people can take it how they want. Buffalo Dream is one of those songs you can read in different ways”
Stretch also said this was the most personal album they had “dared to write”.
“It’s got our first love song on it – That Itch Is You,” he said. “Can you believe it? After all these years!”
- The Pigs play the Camelot Lounge, Marrickville, on Friday, February 15.