EXCLUSIVE: RICKY ALBECK - ‘INSIGNIFICANT FAVOURS’

It’s full steam ahead for Ricky Albeck, who today is sharing the first taste of his debut album Nocturnals. ‘Insignificant Favours’ is a song where the post-pub-rock artist loosely touches on love, friendship and mates back home in Adelaide, launching exclusively today through The Note. This track is Ricky at his best. Give it a listen below and read our exclusive Q+A with him about all things ‘Insignificant Favours’ and Nocturnal.

Congratulations on the release of ‘Insignificant Favours’! You’ve said the song is partially about your friends back in Adelaide, friendship and the banality of small-town life -- how did those thoughts influence the track? 

Thank you! I didn’t really try and write about those things per se. It’s more so the feeling that the song gives me now that it’s finished. There are a few lines that are about specific people and things, but mostly, I feel like my writing is hyperbolic and fictional - the listener can relate it to what they will.

Jess Johns, Tom Spall and Thea Martin, who feature on this track, are all artists you've collaborated with before. What continues to draw you to working with them musically? 

I guess they’re just really great! Three shining stars in Adelaide’s musical sky! Once you find your people, you tend to stick with ‘em. Jess sings on the track, and Thea and Tom both play violins. I think the strings and harmonies probably make the song, so lots of love to those guys.

‘Insignificant Favours’ is our first taste of your debut album, Nocturnal, which arrives independently on May 3. You wrote the record over five years – how did your approach to music and songwriting change in this time? 

I think my songwriting has changed with age, as it does for everyone. All the songs feel so different to me, perhaps because I didn’t just sit down and write them all together. It would be cool to try and do that, but I just feel like I’m playing catch-up - trying to record songs that have been around for ages and fit them together on a release somehow. I definitely have favourites on this record, so I’ll be interested to see if people have the same favourites and if people hate the ones that I hate.

You also self-produced the album --tell us more about that experience. How did taking on a producer role push you as a musician? 

It was nice to have total control but also scary. I think I worked on my fear of making decisions. There was a lot of re-doing and re-working though, because I would make mistakes - or decisions that I later regret - and you just have to start from scratch sometimes. To be honest, sometimes it’s just expensive to have other people in the studio, so you gotta do it by yourself.

You’re back in Adelaide this February 9, celebrating the launch of ‘Insignificant Favours’ and joining forces with The Belair Line Band. What should we expect from this gig?

The Belair Line Band and I just played on a cruise ship a couple of months back, and it was a big bonding experience. This will be the first show with this lineup since then, so it’s like we’re going back to Lifou. I hope the audience feels that it’s 'giving tropical island'.

What else can we expect from you in 2024? 

I’ll do some more shows around the time of the album release, probably in late May and June. These will be a little more grandiose than the usual rock show, with strings and pedal steel and such, maybe some backing dancers. After that, book some more shows, play those shows, release some more music, book some more shows, play the shows, and on and on and on it goes.

Buy your tickets to Ricky Albeck’s gig at the Cranker on February 9 here.