by Mia Dyson
You are Mia Dyson and you've worked your ass off the past decade to be heard on the Australian continent. That work has paid off. People know your name. Writers gush about your whisky-tinged voice and liken you to Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan and the Boss. You’ve headlined shows, played the festivals, cut three records and received plenty of radio play. You've been nominated four times for an ARIA, winning one. You've toured with Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Nicks.
But there is this dream you’ve had since you were a child listening to your parents’ vinyl collection and later reading E Annie Proulx. Get to America. Tour across the States playing music, soak into the American culture and ultimately, make a lasting record.
So you sharpen your teeth and sink into that dream.
Well, Mia Dyson, welcome to America. It's 2009 and nobody knows your name.
In the next three years you'll separate from your long-time partner, you’ll go broke, lose your band and your management will try to change your name and sell you out to reality television.
And what is your response to it all?
You make the most gutsy and revealing album of your life. You reclaim the helm of your career, building a community of players and friends, touring through the vast cities and big sky country you’ve heard achingly described in your favourite songs, enjoying America the way you dreamed of.
"The Moment" frames that three-year journey into a chaotic American landscape and the depths of uncertainty. It is an album about grabbing hold of what scares you most and letting go of trying to control your own fate. Each song holds up a piece of broken heart and examines it through the fresh eyes of a woman who's found her place, and is suddenly aware that not much in life can be planned. From the chronicle of an imploding relationship ("Pistol") to the life-affirming heart-pounding joy of forging ahead ("When The Moment Comes") to the empathetic gaze outward into a dark canon of Australian history in “Jesse”. This is the kind of album America meant for Mia Dyson to make all along.
And now it’s time to bring it all home.
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