songwriter who knows himself better. “I’m not an easy man / I guess I’ll never be / But I was always yours,” Sultan sings on ‘Easier Man’.
“I think it comes from being a bit more grown up, personally,” Sultan says. “And that’s the idea, isn’t it? You get older and you get a bit wiser, and as a songwriter you’re always trying to get better and trying to push yourself.”
Songs like ‘Hold It Together’ and ‘Kingdom’ add a wider scope to Sultan’s lyrical oeuvre. While ‘Hold It Together’ takes a tale of a close friend and turns it into an affirming call for solidarity, ‘Kingdom’ is more politically cutting: “Tie my hands and break my bones / Take my children from my home,” the song starts before Sultan posits a sharp question: “Who’s coming with me to the kingdom?”
One of the record’s surprises is ‘Drover’, a song written from the perspective of an indigenous drover during the Wave Hill walk-off in 1966, a protest by pastoral workers in the Northern Territory over poor working conditions. The protest was immortalised in Paul Kelly’s classic ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’, and Sultan describes ‘Drover’ as a “prequel” to that song.
“It’s about the lead-up to the walk-off, about what it was like on the ground before the protest really kicked off,” he says. “The drover in the song has heard murmurs of a walk-off, murmurs of, ‘We’re going to protest and stand up for our land and stand up for our people’. I found it really interesting to write in that way. You know, as a writer, I think empathy is essential.”
To say that Killer is not only a portrait of a songwriter at a crucial moment in his craft and in his life, but also a portrait of a country at this moment in time, is not a bridge too far. Sultan’s fourth album is personal and far-reaching, a reflection on his life and a call for all our lives to pull closer together. It’s also an exciting and hook-filled journey of a record, one that urges us to look at who Dan Sultan is, right here, right now.
tour, with an overwhelming response from
fans, and music critics. Nick Price from
www.themusic.com.au describes his experience at the tour.
“Launching into Magnetic, the first single released from latest album Killer, Sultan proves from the get go that his voice is legit. It booms clear to back of the room, and every note is a home run. Taking a step back, Sultan moves onto Kimberley Calling from his 2014 album Blackbird. The slower pace, and optimistic attitude of the song radiates through the crowd…
Dan Sultan kicks arse.”.
Killer marked Sultan’s second time in the ARIA top 5 – his last album Blackbird debuted at #4 and earned the Melbourne artist the Best Rock Album accolade at the ARIA Awards in 2014.
Killer has seen Dan nominated in three categories for this year’s ARIA awards, “Best Male Artist, Best Independent Release, and Best Rock Album”. As per usual, there’s also a stack of categories up for public vote including Song of the Year, Best Australian Live Act and Best Video. You can cast your vote over here.
The ARIA Awards will be announced Tuesday 28 November.
We have high hopes for Dan in the 2017 ARIA’s. Not only has he been acknowledged for his album in the ARIA’s, Dan was also nominated in the National Indigenous Music Awards held in Darwin on the 12 August. Sultan’s nominations included Best Video for “Magnetic”, Best Song for his with AB Original on “January 26”, and Artist of the Year.
Rappers Briggs and Trials of A.B Original won Best Song for their track January 26, featuring Dan Sultan, which takes aim at the controversial date of Australia Day.
It has been an amazing journey to witness Dan grow as an artist and an Aboriginal man from the crisp age of 22. Dan has never fell short for representing his mob, and being vocal lyrically and physically on Aboriginal issues, truths, life experiences and stories.
He puts the Soul in Sultan!
Dan has just come off the back of his successful