Imagine hearing one of your songs featured on a James Bond film.
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That's the ultimate goal for Moree musical duo Merri-May Gill and Fi Claus with the worldwide release of their debut album, Sunday Heart Parade - A note to say I love you.
Described as "light in darkness and weighty in lightness", the dreamy tunes of A note to say I love you were officially launched on all the major online music platforms in mid-October and distributed to radio stations across the country.
The local singer-songwriters are "stoked" to finally have their labour of love out in the world, after years in the making.
"It's an incredible feeling," Fi said.
"I think it's the biggest thing I'll achieve in my life; I can't imagine doing anything I'm more proud of."
Fi, who has previously had songs on high rotation on triple J and sung backing vocals with some of Australia's greatest musicians including Paul Kelly and Pete Murray, said this album is her ultimate "dream album".
The world-class quality album features a compilation of the best songs Merri-May and Fi have ever written together (about their life and their love for each other), sung by their four favourite female Australian singers (Melanie Horsnell, Angie Hart, Bec Quade and Rachel Holmshaw), with Paul Kelly's drummer and bass player, Peter Luscombe and Bill McDonald, and The Drones' Dan Luscombe on electric guitar.
The album is also accompanied by a violinist and cellist from Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and was recorded in Melbourne's iconic Sing Sing Studios.
It was then put together by the sonic mastery of sound engineer Anthony Lycenko and Los Angeles-based mastering engineer Gavin Lurssen, both among the best in the business.
"It's ideal-world, how I would dream of an album turning out," Fi said.
"It's very special.
"This is what I'd always wanted to do. It's my ideal album."
"We wanted an album we could listen to," Merri-May, who has packed tents at all the major folk festivals around Australia and toured extensively through the UK, USA and Canada in her comedy cabaret past-life, added.
Finished in 2017, shortly after the tragic death of their sound engineer Anthony Lycenko, the Sunday Heart Parade album was launched in Moree to Merri-May and Fi's family and friends, however the combination of Lycenko's death and a lack of time and energy saw the pair push back a world-wide release.
"Our sound engineer tragically passed away just before we did the launch in Moree and we were just really down and I think that was a reflection on the album's artwork and the sequence," Fi said.
"It's incredible the difference the order of the songs can have. It was a heavy feel of album. We put all the songs on because we wanted our friends and family to hear them. But we just didn't have the energy to launch it at the time."
Fast-forward two years and the re-ordered, re-mastered and shortened version of the album is now available for the world to enjoy, preferably with a glass of wine in hand, according to Merri-May.
"Now we've had the time and space; I'm now working part-time and it's given us time to sit down and really think about the sequence that works best," Fi said.
"It now has 10 songs instead of 17 and sounds really happy and chilled. We changed the artwork to reflect that. The feel to the music is much lighter."
"It's Sunday afternoon music - laid back, cruisy. It'd go great with a Sunday session," Merri-May added.
A note to say I love you is already starting to gain attention from those in the industry. Jeff Jenkins, one of the country's top rock reviewers, emailed back a simple, "I love it!", while fellow arts writer Ian Shadwell said, "This album is gorgeous ... a delight! I've loved the first listen and am looking forward to having it on repeat for the foreseeable future."
It has already been played on Melbourne ABC and 3RRR FM in Melbourne, and is set to feature on 4ZZZ FM's weekly new music show.
And although touring and performing is often the next step following the release of an album, the local singer-songwriters, having both "been there, done that", say they would instead love to hear their songs featured in film or television and are in the process of distributing the album "to the right people".
"Back when we were both in our original bands in the early '90s we were so lucky we got to tour," Fi said.
"People couldn't burn music yet and you could make enough money to tour. It's also when universities still had money and they used to pay bands to play.
"Now it's so expensive to tour unless you're on commercial radio.
"So we don't feel the need to tour now.
"It's just about making a recording we're incredibly proud of."
"And enjoying the process," Merri-May added.
"There's one particular song we want on a James Bond film at some point - Would you still love me, track nine. It'd be perfect."
In the meantime, the couple are busy working on separate projects.
Fi is currently writing with fellow Moree musicians, sisters Stevie and Jacqualyn Drenkhahn, who together have formed the County Cocktail Club, while Merri-May has started writing a musical, with songwriting help from the County Cocktail Club. Merri-May is also starting to write a show to perform at the 20th Prague Fringe in 2020, having performed in the first, second and 10th festivals.
Sunday Heart Parade - A note to say I love you will be available to purchase locally from Moree Tourist Information Centre and Wise Words Bookshop. Alternatively, it can be downloaded from any of the major online music platforms including iTunes/Apple Music, Google Play Music, Amazon Music, Spotify and Bandcamp.