Lost Animal’s Jarrod Quarrell Is Keen to Dispel Some Myths

​Seeing Lost Animal​ for the first time was like being confronted with all the bullshit I believed about myself. Through bare-knuckle honesty, Jarrod Quarrell's music moved with an uneasy transparency. It was music that brought to life all my emotional fuck ups and losses. In a room, surrounded by people, I came toe-to-toe with some buried skeletons I'd been trying hard to neglect.

There's no doubt Quarrell is an interesting and talented songwriter who over the years has been misunderstood. Five years on from his brilliant debut Ex-Tropical, which combined elements of dub alongside horns and marimba, he returns with You Yang, an album that moves with more exposed sincerity. From the tragic poetics of "Prisoners Island", to the uplifting funk in "Message For The Future" You Yang spins with a cognitive dissonance.

With inspiration coming from some childhood years living in Papua New Guinea with his family, to playing pubs in Geelong as a teenager, to his guitar heavy St Helens project, Quarrell has developed a collaged techne​ that embodies a heart-on-sleeve attitude. Lush melodic delays wash with influx of lyrics that pierce with uncanny imagery and diction.

Jarrod and I hung out after a recent Lost Animal in-store gig at Melbourne's Polyester Records. After lugging his equipment to his car we cruised down to the Tote for an afternoon chat. It was raining, cold and they had no milk for us to mix with our Kahlua.

Noisey: How do you describe You Yang?
Jarrod Quarrell: It's a little darker and quite personal. It's about a middle-aged artist getting older but still swinging with a little bit of a lament on Australia. It's about what it could be and what it actually is.

Did growing up in Geelong have an impact on the record?
Maybe, in as much as Papua New Guinea and country Victoria did as well. It all adds up. Geelong is a very working class, sport oriented town and I guess to be artistic wasn't that easy. At the same time we had a really healthy scene when I was young, of bands and people that encourage that kind of thing.

But I knew I had to move away from rock n roll and loud guitar music to really have my own thing. I had to step outside my comfort zone. I didn't want to be another guitar player singer-songwriter. I wanted to reference my childhood, like watching breakdance videos. To throw it all in as much as I wanted to throw in the songwriter stuff and cherry-pick all the best bits out of music.

That melting pot or collage of different genres has made it hard to define your music.
They've been calling us electro funk over in the States?! I kind of get it but we are way more then that and less than that. I get it, we are funky and electronic, but I'm a songwriter and it's just not that. Just because something's danceable doesn't make it dance music.I'd call it soul music, because that's where it's coming from.

I met a girl at your last show who wanted to know if I had been to any of your gigs. I asked why and she was like, "Oh man he's really fucked up, it's intense." She seemed more interested in looking or experiencing a dose of the "rock-n-roll" spectacle.
What disappoints me is the idea that anyone would come to see me because they think I'm cool for being some kind of rock n roll fuck up. It really makes me kinda sick. It's not what I'm about and it's not what I'm doing it for. I don't wish what I've been through on my worst enemy. I don't think its cool. I never thought it was. It's just something that's happened in my life and I don't think I present that front.

I never set out to get fucked up so I could write songs about it. I never believed in the live fast die young rock n roll thing. I always thought it was dumb. I've never put that image out there, I've never talked about drugs in a positive way. But the reputation has been thrust upon me.

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You're a sweetheart mate.
If you just approach me I feel like I'm easy to talk to. You can see that people believe the image or reputation. It's hard trying not to get hung up on being taken the wrong way. But I've got no fuckin' choice but to let it go because I'd do my head in if I was trying to change everyone's view.

Yeah they love the image and the music but don't want to know the real person, scared you might be a little too much like them.
You know its funny you say that people think I'm intense or whatever. I do my best to destroy that image. Whenever someone says hello to me I make sure I ask their name, change the subject from me as quick as I can and just be a fuckin' normal person. Because that's what I am.

Maybe it's the silver teeth?
I think it happened before that. There's definitely an unbalanced reputation. This fucked up, bad-ass thing. I'm the complete opposite of a bad-ass. I've never been in a fight in my life. I've been jumped a couple of times but I've never hit anybody in anger, in my whole life.

It's weird that the album creates this sinister stage character.
I guess it's just the way I am. I am sensitive. I do see a lot of sadness in the world. I do think the worlds a fucked up, crazy place. I am a romantic but I'm also someone who likes to have fun, wants music to sound interesting and at least try to be a little progressive.

Are the lyrics something you need to get off your chest?
Not all the lyrics are personal. A lot of it is character stuff written through this filter of how I look at the world. I've had drug problems. I've had depression. But the funkiness in the music and the dance-ability is like a fuck you to that.

It's a survival and I'm a survivor. I'm going see the beauty in the world even if I'm depressed or down or struggling with an addiction. I'm going to bring the beauty out of shit and say this is how I feel. It's nice to point out the beauty in the world even if you are a bit fucked up. Ha!

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How is this album different to Ex-Tropical? Do you usually use this intuitive method…instinctive decisions have led me to some fucked up decisions?
It's different in art. You know my instincts have definitely led me to poor decisions in life too but arts different. It is an instinctive thing. On the last record, I went in knowing what I wanted, where to put each instrument. I knew exactly what I was going to do and I executed it.

For You Yang I wrote a few songs but most of it was written in the studio. Some was demo'd with Shags at home. It was more off the cuff, with more input from others.

The last two shows you played solo. What's Shags been up to?
He is based in LA over the next few years, playing with Ariel Pink and doing a lot of session stuff, mixing and recording. He is still in the band but in the mean time I'll be playing solo and I like it, it's fun.

Are we going to be losing you to the States anytime soon?
At this point in my life I just want to play cool shows, make the records and leave them behind. There's all this focus on America and I kinda don't give a fuck. I kinda do but I kinda don't. I'm not anti success but I'm not going to bend over backwards to make it in the States.

I'm comfortable with where I'm at; not being as big as other bands doesn't bother me. I can't complain man. I've got a lot of respect and I truly value it. Like Gareth from the Drones has been covering "Lose the Baby".  Paul Kelly likes my stuff. I've done alright.

Image: Ryan Kenny

'You Yang' is available on Remote Control Records.