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Alexander Burnett is an Australian singer, songwriter and producer. He is best known for being the front man of alternative pop band, Sparkadia, however in the last few years has contributed songs and top lines for various other artists such as Digitalism, Flight Facilities, Elizabeth Rose and Lancelot.
Currently residing in London, Burnett writes and records in the infamous Studio XXVII that he runs with producer, Blue May and studio manager, Dave Johnson.
History
Sparkadia formed in Sydney in 2004 and were originally known as The Spark. The brainchild of Alexander Burnett (vocals, guitar) and Dave Hall (drums), the band became a reality with the addition of Nick Rabone (bass) and Josephine Ayling (keyboards, guitar, vocals) in 2006.
They first came into prominence in Australia with their debut EP titled Things Behind the Sun .[1] The EP was released by Australian indie label, Boundary Sounds on 20 February 2007; with the lead single "Morning Light" being the No. 1 most downloaded track off Australian national broadcasters Triple J's website with 32,000 downloads in two months. This was followed by extensive Australian touring and led to signing with UK indie label Ark Recordings.[2]
With a line-up change in 2008 with Tiffany Preece replacing Ayling, Sparkadia released their debut studio album, Postcards, on 31 May 2008.,[3] peaking at No. 23 on the ARIA albums chart.[4] The album was recorded with producer Ben Hillier[5] (Blur, Depeche Mode, Doves, Elbow) at 'The Pool' in Miloco Studios, London.
The debut single off the album "Animals" was The Guardian's single of the week[3] and received rotation on BBC Radio One. This was followed by the release of the singles "Too Much to Do", "Jealousy" and re-release of "Morning Light".
Subsequent single "Too Much to Do" was B listed by Radio 2, played by everyone from Colin Murray to Terry Wogan, and earned accolades from Mojo, Q4 Music and The Guardian. All four singles received significant airplay on Australian radio station Triple J[6] and their sleeper hit "Jealousy" was ranked 79th in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2008.[6]
Their cover of “This Boy’s in Love”[7] by The Presets for Triple J’s Like a Version made it onto Volume 5 of 2009 and subsequently appeared in their ‘best of’ anthology released in 2013.[8]
After taking some time out, Preece, Hall and Rabone left the group for various reasons and Burnett relocated to London.[9] Over there he met a kindred spirit in Mark Tieku and began work[10] on the second record that would become The Great Impression.
Released on 31 March 2011, the album peaked at No. 8 on the ARIA albums chart.[11] The lead single single "Talking Like I'm Falling Down Stairs" went on to be ranked 24th in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2010.[12] Subsequent singles "China" and "Mary" also went on to earn the 56th and 47th place in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2011.[13]
Following the The Great Impression and Mary tours and Splendour In The Grass in 2011, Burnett was part of the Nick Cave Straight to You[14]" concert series organised by Triple J.[15] He performed on many of the songs including his own rendition of the Boys Next Door, "Shivers[16]" and the duet of "Where the Wild Roses Grow[16]" with Lanie Lane. The subsequent live recording/DVD went onto win an ARIA in the 2012 awards.[17]
In late 2012, Space & Time, off their debut record was featured on the sears campaign, Connecting Flights.[18]
Burnett is currently working on the third Sparkadia album
Writing for other artists and Features
Burnett has featured on:
“Protect” by Beni (feat. Antony & Cleopatra) (2014)
“Make Ends Meet” by Lancelot (feat. Antony & Cleopatra) (2014)
“Givin’ it Up’ by Lancelot (feat. Antony & Cleopatra) (2014)
"Songs of Summer[19]" from the 2013 Gossling album, Harvest of Gold
"On N On", from the 2013, A.Chal album, Ballroom Riots
"The Tide" by Dreamtrak (2013)
"The Big Sleep", from the 2012 Urthboy album, Smokey's Haunt [20]
"Faithful", from the 2011 Phrase album, Babylon
Burnett has also recently co-written:
“Another Time” from the Geoffrey O’conner album, Fan Fiction (2014)
“Her Name on Every Tongue” Geoffrey O’conner (2014)
“Protect” by Beni (feat. Antony & Cleopatra) (2014)
"Guess I'll never know" by Inca (2014)
“Make Ends Meet” by Lancelot (feat. Antony & Cleopatra) (2014)
“Givin’ it Up’ by Lancelot (feat. Antony & Cleopatra) (2014)
"Only Me" (feat. VCS) from the 2014 EP by Elizabeth Rose, Sensibility
"It Belongs to Us" & "The Gullible Few" from the 2014 Dan Sultan Album, Blackbird
"Under Your Skin" by Dan Sultan (2013)[21]
"Waterfall" from the movie Plot for Peace (2013)
"I Didn't Believe" by Flight Facilities feat. Elizabeth Rose (2013)[22]
"Act Your Age" by Bliss n Eso (2013)
"Running in the Rain" by Bobby Flynn (2013)
"Naive Bravado" by Urthboy (2012)
"Battles" by Hudson Taylor (2012)
"2 Hearts" by Digitalism (2011)[23]
"Shock" from the 2011 BlueJuice album, Company[24]
"Act Yr Age" by BlueJuice (2011)
Antony & Cleopatra
Burnett is currently one half of the duo, Antony & Cleopatra who are currently featured on Lancelot's double A side release with UK Label Anjuna Deep[25]
- ^ Faster Louder. 22/02/07 http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/news/local/7969/Sparkadia-reveal-Things-Behind-the-Sun.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Sparkadia: Let There Be Light". Mess and Noise. Retrieved 28 February 2007.
- ^ a b "Sparkadia/Postcards (CD)". Retrieved 10 June 2008. [dead link] Cite error: The named reference "san" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ "Artist Album Chart search for: Sparkadia". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 10 June 2008.
- ^ Record Producer News http://garysavelson.wordpress.com/2007/06/11/producer-ben-hillier-and-sparkadia-2/. Retrieved 11 June 2007.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ a b "Sparkadia/JPLAY". Retrieved 15 December 2009.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijtnAYDHjl8
- ^ https://shop.abc.net.au/products/jjj-like-a-version-anth-2cd
- ^ http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/sparkadia-and-then-there-was-one/story-e6frg8n6-1226017146139
- ^ http://messandnoise.com/articles/4230640
- ^ http://ivyleague.com.au/news/sparkadia-debuts-at-8-on-aria-chart
- ^ http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/archive/archive.htm?year=2010&alltime=0
- ^ http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/archive/archive.htm?year=2011&alltime=0
- ^ http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/musicnews/s3306934.htm
- ^ Triple J music news. 15/08/11 http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/events/straight_to_you/.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ a b http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/live/latw/sessions/s3387823.htm
- ^ ARIA. October 3, 2012 http://www.ariaawards.com.au/news/22/aria-nominations-announced-for-2012.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Sears: Connecting Flights Commercial Song: Space And Time by Sparkadia".
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J54Q1PDbXTw
- ^ http://hillydilly.com/2012/10/13/urthboy-smokeys-haunt/
- ^ http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/musicnews/s3889402.htm
- ^ http://acidstag.com/2013/05/08/flight-facilities-i-didnt-believe-ft-elizabeth-rose-new-single/
- ^ Triple J music news. 10/06/2011 http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/musicnews/s3239022.htm.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Triple J Music News. 10/05/11 http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/musicnews/s3212522.htm.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/16455-givin-it-up-ft-antony-cleopatra/