Shane Nicholson

Faith & Science

Faith & Science.

Some would have you believe they're mutually exclusive ideas. Some would say the two are inextricably entwined, coiled around each other's lengths in an eternally tightening knot. Shane Nicholson simply sees them as two ends of a remarkable album.

Faith & Science was Shane's second solo album, a confident, diverse and finely crafted collection of tunes that were given the time to grow up and find their own feet.

Eleven years ago Shane was introduced to the world via his hard working, Brisbane-based rock outfit Pretty Violet Stain. They scored a load of airplay, released a couple of EPs and an album and toured Australia incessantly. After that debut (and final) album, Parachutes & Gravity, was delayed for the third time running, Shane began to consider other avenues for his music.

The result was It's A Movie, a beautifully sparse and simple collection of classic singer-songwriter tunes. As a solo offering, it did everything good solo albums should - it was intimate, confessional and dripped with honesty so raw it almost needed disinfecting.

But Shane wanted something more dynamic for his second outing, and from the opening strength of Safe And Sound, you can hear exactly what he means. That incredibly emotional voice is still there, but solidly backed by the music you know is driving his heart. It's not surprising when you consider that Australian luminaries such as Diesel and Jim Moginie (Midnight Oil), perform on the album.

"I realised that by letting go a little bit and by trusting some other people's judgment, especially Nash's [Chambers, producer], you can be pleasantly surprised by where your songs can go. I did make a conscious decision that I wanted that to happen on this record That's most of the reason that I still really like this album - there are parts of it that I'm still discovering that other people did that I'm liking more all the time."

Faith and science - we all need a bit of both when it comes down to it.

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