How best to describe Ron S Peno? He of Died Pretty, The Superstitions and most recently, and currently, The Darling Downs has been described as 'scary', 'gentle', 'iconic' and 'enigmatic'. The multi-styled frontman is certainly eclectic. His music has proven eclectic, crossing genres, eras and generations. Peno seems every bit the character as the AU Review chats with him about his new The Darling Downs album In the Days when the World Was Wide, recorded with collaborator Kim Salmon of The Beasts of Bourbon and The Scientists.
At the front of Died Pretty in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Peno’s persona embodied the post-punk cool of the era, illustrated by his cool stare from stage, wild moves and progressive music. With time, though, Peno has settled into a more relaxed, balladeering country style. The two characters seem worlds apart but Peno insists the songs he sings are much the same, despite the obvious differences.
"I don’t think there’s a great change from what I was doing with Died Pretty," he said. "It’s basically the same only Died Pretty was with more people. It’s not a great change, basically, I’ve always written about alienation and lost love and all of those cheery things. And that suits me, you know, a lot of country songs are about that, aren’t they? Blue grass songs are hardly happy, are they?"
Peno’s music may not be particularly cheerful but The Darling Downs’ new album is infectious nonetheless. Peno and Salmon’s project has produced two celebrated albums preceding the latest but this one is another step forward for the pair. The album is fuller, more layered, and at times even up-tempo, which Peno said was the result of a conscious effort. And regardless of his insistence that writing music hasn’t changed much for him over the years, there was a big difference on this album. Both Peno, who is renowned for ad-libbing much of his lyrics, and Salmon actually put pen to paper.
“It is different in a number of subtle ways,” Peno said. “We both wrote the lyrics, this time. So we both sat down and wrote all the lyrics together, which took a long time . . . because I’m a very lazy lyricist. Kim and I we just sort of, yeah, went through the demos and what I was ad-libbing and sort of deciphered what I was singing and cobbled it together with some lyrics.”
There are other obvious differences on the new album. Striving to evolve their sound, the pair recorded in a studio this time and called in a little help from friends to add to their vocals and acoustic guitars and banjo.
"First and foremost, it was recorded in a proper studio at Sound Park here in Melbourne and that’s how it got the lovely, warm sound and feel to the album," Peno said. "Secondly we had some guest musicians come and play with us on various songs; some bass, drums piano, percussion, that sort of thing, you know, on various songs. There are songs on there that are just Kim or myself, Kim playing either acoustic or banjo, but a lot of the songs we flesh out with guest musicians, which is nice. It added another layer to the songs and another tempo, with that company sort of a feel."
The result is something the troubadour describes as 'a lovely bunch of songs' that range from blue grass, through country to alt-country, with touches of soul. It was a project that Peno said he and Salmon held close to their hearts but wasn’t their 'be all and end all'. Both musicians have various other musical projects on the boil, including Salmon reforming The Scientists and playing with Spencer P Jones and Peno touring with The Superstitions from September.
So, there will be no The Darling Downs tour, for now at least, and it seems the two friends see their work together as something more for fun, rather than any big plan to promote themselves. For two of Australia’s most experienced musicians, it’s a luxury others often can’t afford. And that level of relaxed experience is measurable.
"We’re enjoying that," Peno said, "Tt was a very pleasurable experience recording. It shows through on the album too, there’s a lot of heart and soul, and it’s probably one of the best things that I’ve ever done, anyhow."
