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Bear In Mind: tiny poems by gyan. museagency Review by Stuart Spence, printed in The Echo.

how to bleed a rose
how to milk a swan
how to make impossibles
before the day is done

So quietly puzzles singer, songwriter, poet, artiste at large, Gyan in her new offering, Bear In Mind, a book of ‘tiny poems’ with decidedly less-than-tiny clout.

The eternally splendid artist has crafted a fascinating career, gliding down the creative currents of rock/pop idol-dom (when hair was bigger), to this year’s film soundtrack of P J Hogan’s Mental, and recently collaborating with the Sultan of Whimsy, Michael Leunig to create Billy the Rabbit, a mesmerizing dance through our theatres with text, drawing and music. In short, Gyan seems creatively tethered by nothing, anchored by none.

Bear In Mind is a testament to this creative pin ball. Kooky phrases, whispers over back fences, brain doodling, patchy memories, all are plucked from 20 years of eavesdropping, cutting and pasting, dreaming and collecting.
Gyan, clearly is a collector, probably even a hoarder. A gatherer of the oddball, the surreal and often the just bloody funny.

twinkle
twinkle
little star
here i sit
insomnia

As the author hints on the book sleeve, ‘I’ve always had a fascination for the Haiku form of poetry but never for the rules,’ so the pages make small invitations imploring the reader to perhaps finish what she has started; to pick up where she’s left off.

all the trees are bare
i knit you a jumper
now how can that be fair 

Family, Paul Kelly, leaf blowers, recalcitrant fig trees and a plethora of feathered friends  all sneak quickly and silently on and off the pages.

last night
i heard a bird
talking in its sleep

These are the pickings from which writers often build, extrapolate upon, embellish, fatten up for Thanksgiving and serve with no discernible clues as to the work’s provenance; but here we are lucky enough to get a sneak peek at the origins of life. In a way, Gyan rebels against the magicians’ secret code and shows us how ‘it’s’ done, shoo-ing away the smoke, turning the mirrors and standing aside.

Like all good artists, the author volunteers the reader into voyeurism, whether they like it or not. Often Bear In Mind makes this awkwardly evident.
just before dawn i heard you say    her name 

Should we be hearing that? Bad luck. Gyan seems to say, ‘The song starts, where it finishes... well, you tell me.’
A collection of deep breaths, of first chords, last tah dah’s, icing stuck to the bowl, sighs and burps, Bear In Mind is a reminder of what can be snatched out of the whirling day, if only a wee snip, and how handsome it can look, alone and content on that big cream page.
Stuart Spence

BRISBANE COURIER MAIL: Music Reviews
ACOUSTIC
Gyan Superfragilistically (Vitamin) ****
GYAN had a crack at the big leagues with a pop career in the 90's but this skin suits her much better.
The "timeless" description has been rendered impotent through overuse,so let's just say this slow-moving and sometimes staggeringly beautiful record feels like an overlooked classic from the vaults when singer-songwriters ruled the roost,circa '71. Clearly it is the work of a free spirit more concerned with making lasting emotional connections rather than how many she can sell,a value not as prized by the guys at the money end of town as it was back when artists like Judee Sill, Joni Mitchell and Sandy Denny comanded major lable deal.
Less is more is the approach for these songs, all the better to reflect the nuances of Gyan's voice, which can range from pure-as-a-mountain-stream to mischievous to achingly lonesome in the course of a few songs
Priest sits on a bluesy guitar from the songs'co-writer,Australian guitar legend Tim Gaze.Jehovah features a small string orchestra,Come Settle You Down has elegant lap steel guitar from James Cruickshank ( The Cruel Sea),another co-writer here
For a taste, try the title tune, which evokes the spirit of Nick Drakes first two albums and those special Robert Kirby string arrangments, and the orchestral settings of tunes such as Every Finger
As the title of her song Girl with a Long Fuse suggests,this is music that people will treasure for years to come. Aslo available on vinyl from the museagency.com
Noel Mengel

 

 

 

 

 

Gyan sings on PJ Hogan's "Mental" see trailer

S  U  P  E  R  F  R  A  G  I  L  I  S  T  I  C  A  L  L  Y runner-up BEST 'ADULT' ALBUM 2010 - the sound of grown-ups singing about grown-ups doing grown-up things ... songwriting of the highest quality. Bernard Zuel - SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

  Gyan - Live in Byron

Gyan-vocals, Tim Gaze-Lead Guitar
 

**** SMH review: Is it possible to be truly original? Certainly Gyan seems to elude easy categorisation in her determination to find sounds, silences and lyrics that are unpredictable, never cliched ... It is intensely beautiful, emotionally honest, sensitive and seductive. Perhaps best of all, it grows on you. The more you listen, the more you will fall in love with Gyan’s unique talent. ... read more

 

GYAN on Triple J Sunday Night Safran with John and Father Bob PODCAST.

SUPERFRAGILISTICALLY Album of the week on ABC RADIO NATIONAL DAILY PLANET.

 

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