Jack Colwell | |
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![]() Promotional photo distributed by the artist in 2020 | |
Background information | |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Piano, vocals, guitar |
Years active | 2012–present |
Jack Colwell is an Australian singer-songwriter. [1]
Colwell's mother was a concert pianist. [2] He attended the Sydney Conservatorium of Music High School.
Prior to launching his solo career, Colwell worked behind the scenes in the Australian music industry, assisting Karen O with her performance of "Stop The Virgens" at the Sydney Opera House in 2012 and arranging vocals for Architecture in Helsinki. [1] He also had a band called Jack Colwell & The Owls.
Colwell attracted attention in August 2015 when Rolling Stone Australia premiered the video for his single "Don't Cry Those Tears". [3]
The song topped AMRAP's Metro radio chart for four consecutive weeks [4] but programmers at Triple J told Colwell, who was 25 years old at the time, that "Don't Cry Those Tears" sounded 'too old' to be played on the station. [5]
In late August 2015, he self-released his first solo EP, Only When Flooded Could I Let Go. [6]
In September 2015, Colwell appeared at Newtown Social Club as part of Rolling Stone's "Live Lodge" concert series. [1] In November 2015, ARIA-winning singer-songwriter Sarah Blasko announced that Colwell would be the main support act on her 2016 Australian tour. [7]
In August 2016, Colwell released When The World Explodes, [8] an EP featuring remixes of songs from Only When Flooded... by HEALTH, Fennesz, Roly Porter, Ash Koosha, Rabit and Marcus Whale.
In October 2016, Colwell played a sold-out hometown show at the Sydney Opera House with a string ensemble. [9]
In 2018, Colwell accompanied cult singer-songwriter and former Burberry model Patrick Wolf at Wolf's career-spanning Australian comeback concert. [10] The pair reunited in January 2020 for a sold-out run of Wolf shows in London, [11] with Colwell contributing arrangements and multi-instrumental accompaniment. Recalling the first time he attended a Wolf concert, Colwell said: "I was 17 and had a fake ID. I was really struck by how remarkable his singing voice is. I was blown away." [10]
Colwell self-released his debut album, Swandream, in 2020. [12]
Produced by Sarah Blasko, Swandream was acclaimed by critics: NME declared it "an utterly visceral listen with immediate impact" [13] while The Guardian said "Colwell and Blasko have built a full-immersion tale that is both theatrical and real." [12]
BrooklynVegan called Swandream "a record loaded with lush, moody ballads and soaring anthems" [14] and Junkee crowned it "the fieriest and most beautiful album of the year so far." [15]
Swandream ranked #5 on NME's '25 Best Australian Albums of 2020' list. [13]
Prior to the album's release, Colwell shared a collaboration with Owen Pallett, "I Will Not Change My Ways". [16] The song was recorded in one take while Colwell was in Pallett's native Toronto. An alternative version appeared on Swandream.
A track from the album, "In My Dreams", was remixed by Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins. [14] Guthrie's version appeared alongside remixes by Joel Amey of Wolf Alice and Australian musicians Rainbow Chan and Marcus Whale on the EP Swanlux. [17]
Colwell has written essays for The Guardian, [18] Kill Your Darlings [19] and others, and delivered talks at the National Young Writers' Festival [20] and the Emerging Writers' Festival. [21]
In November 2016, Colwell released the song No Mercy in honour of deceased Australian teenager Tyrone Unsworth. [22]
In September 2017, Colwell programmed and performed at Unity: the Equality Campaign concert at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney with Sarah Blasko, Killing Heidi, The Jezabels and others. [23] Proceeds from the event went to Australian Marriage Equality, a registered charity advocating for the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia. [24]
He was born three months premature. [25]
Colwell is a noted Tori Amos fan. In 2015, Kill Your Darlings published Colwell's essay Ears with Feet: Life Among the Tori Amos Super Fans. [19] In 2017, Colwell told Double J: "What I love about Tori is that she made the piano cool." [26]