Little May: 2015

The trio Little May might be from Sydney, Australia but the band’s three members—Hannah Field, Liz Drummond, and Annie Hamilton—recorded their debut album, called For The Company, in upstate New York. They had a pretty good reason to travel thousands of miles to do so—an opportunity to work with The National’s Aaron Dessner as their producer.

The three longtime friends of Little May, who also play with drummer Cat Hunter and bassist Mark Hunter, write songs for the heartbroken, but there’s nothing morose or bitter in their approach. On tracks like “Seven Hours” and “Oh My My,” they craft a perfect balance between fragility and ferocity. There is an emotional intelligence to Little May’s music that feels both cathartic and comforting. 

When Little May visited Studio A, the group’s kinetic power as a live band was a revelation. They are also committed to visual art—they recently curated a show in Sydney, commissioning artists to create a work to correlate with every song on their album.  During our session, Hannah, Liz and Annie also discussed the pros and cons of being self-taught musicians, their collaboration with Aaron Dessner, and their beginnings as a cover band playing pubs in Sydney.

[recorded: 10/20/15]