And now for something completely different. This post is about my little brother. Well, one of them. (I’ve got four brothers.)

Pete is a talented musician — so talented that he could totally support himself by writing schlock mood music for schlock journalism of the Today Tonight variety.

Fortunately, he has better taste than that, so instead he uses his talents for good, not evil. In other words, he writes scores for schlock journalism parodies:

My brother also wrote the score for St Kilda’s entry in the Virgin Australia Film Festival:

Here’s the rundown:

The inaugural Virgin Australia Film Festival has launched! As the Official Airline Partner of the AFL, we invited clubs to create a short film based on the theme ‘Extra Mile’. The winners will be decided entirely by you. The three clubs with the films which receive the most engagement on our Facebook page up until Grand Final Day will win flights for their team to the US for their altitude training.

(St Kilda’s entry is smashing the competition for good reason, but Melbourne’s entry deserves to win too. It’s a very different film, and currently in second place. You can view all the entries at Virgin’s Youtube channel.)

From The Music Initiative

From The Music Initiative

Pete is the pianist in Tully on Tully, whose sound is best described, I think, as alternative pop. (I hope that doesn’t offend my brother!)

I’m not especially adept at reviewing music, so I’ll defer to the experts. Here’s a review of their EP album which nails it:

Imagine if you will, the sound of Kate Nash fronting Editors. No, no, no, not in an english revisit of Siouxsie’s Sioux’s finest hour, but in the frame of mind of a unique, original, character filled female vocal fronting music of genuine commercial, yet left field, gothic tinged drama. The kind of sound that can cross over to mass appeal comfortably, yet exhibits the kind of dynamics that say they’ve dug a little deeper than, say, Coldplay and their ilk. Ladies and gentleman, I give you Melbourne’s Tully on Tully.

The Weightless EP is aptly named, there’s a lightness of touch, a fragile delicacy to these songs driven by Natalie Foster’s effortless voice. It’s a voice that gives the band confidence to breathe and play with space, negating the need to bludgeon and smother the melodies.

I differ with the reviewer only on the album’s standout track. My favourite is Quiet Company, which I can listen to over and over again. Here’s a review from Beat:

I let out a sigh when the email accompanying Quiet Company made note of the presence of ukulele. What it failed to mention was that the instrument was utilised in a nonstandard, arpeggio fashion to tremendous effect. Permeated with haunting ambience, lead singer Natalie Foster achieves a resigned beauty with her formidable, affecting vocal talent.