Only the good try so young
The Age
Friday April 1, 2011
It's been a while coming but Tim & Jean's album has finally come to fruition, writes Andrew Murfett. I T'S an unlikely combination. One is a boisterous, talkative character in his 20s who has played in jazz, pop and reggae bands up and down the coast of Western Australia. The other is a somewhat more demure 17-year-old who is required to retain a guardian on tour.Yet Tim & Jean as both band and concept doubtlessly works. This week, the callow duo from the west release their long-awaited debut album, Like What.Tim Ayre, who at 21 is the elder statesman of the two, recalls meeting his floppy-haired musical partner Jean (French pronunciation, please) Capotorto in Mandurah, a town south of Perth previously best known as the home of AFL champion Brian Taylor."I knew Jean as a kid playing in some bands there," Tim says.The two first met at an under-age venue when Jean was just 13. Tim thought little of the meeting until he saw Jean again in similar circumstances one year later. This time they exchanged numbers and began jamming together sporadically.They recorded two songs together on a whim in July, 2009 Like What and Come Around sending both to Triple J Unearthed.Meanwhile, Tim continued touring with various other outfits, unaware that the songs themselves were gaining traction on the Unearthed website. Triple J adopted the hectic, synth-based Come Around as a staple of its playlist."There was no pressure," Tim says. "Nobody knew who we were. Nobody expected anything out of us. So that's why we called the album after the first song we did: Like What. It's also now the first track on our album."The two did not win the Unearthed competition overall but did manage to win a slot at Perth's Parklife festival. Unfortunately at that stage, their set consisted of just two songs. "We had a little while to create some songs and play a half-hour set for Parklife," Tim says. "We recorded five songs in two weeks and the show went OK."Next the group found a manager, Perth-based Peter Carroll (the Panics) and began work on an album."I'm really lucky," Jean says. "I went from sitting in school to going straight into this."Indeed, after his parents initially vetoed the idea of him leaving school in year 10, they eventually relented as the band's potential became more obvious."I had a temporary 'grace of leave' but haven't been back since," he says. "I do want to finish school, though."Tim admits that, initially, the group began work on the project by using Come Around as a sort of sonic template, as it had been a hit on Triple J.Soon enough, they realised this would not work. And although both cite influences as wide as Prince and Fleetwood Mac, casual listeners will note the imprint of more contemporary acts such as Passion Pit and the Naked and Famous.Despite their slight age difference, in person on and off-stage the two appear to enjoy an easy rapport.They produced their debut album together, working in Jean's bedroom for six months, before taking the album to be mixed in New York last year.That the album has been in the can for 12 months has clearly been frustrating for the duo."We've been sitting on it for so long," Jean says. "We have a lot of new music we've been working on we wish we could get out there. We have progressed a lot since then."The group will begin releasing music in Britain next month and North America in June. By then, Jean will be legal."Jean is very young but he's an old soul," Tim says. "His influences in music are far beyond mine in how much he listens to. I almost look up to him musically."Out of earshot of his musical partner, Jean muses instead on the band's most important issue: hair."Tim has the curly bangs thing happening," Jean says, not missing a beat. "I just don't think that's possible for me."Like What is out today through Universal.
© 2011 The Age
