Mr Experience (Blue)

After humble lo-fi beginnings in the Australian art-pop underground, Donny Benet has expanded his cult-like following across the globe with a resonant array of danceable repertoire dealing with love and affection. New album Mr Experience marks a new chapter, informed by a wealth of musical and personal development. For Mr Experience, Donny envisioned a soundtrack to a dinner party set in the late 1980s. While his earlier recordings drew inspiration from DIY pop conspirators such as Ariel Pink and John Maus, Donny channelled the stylings of Bryan Ferry and Hiro-shi Yoshimura as the impetus for new material, evident on the intimacy found on 'Girl Of My Dreams' and it's lush production (with a soothing whistle-along chorus for good measure). Sincerity has been a key component of Donny Benet's output since the beginning. His songs deal with genuine emotion served on a kitsch platter. An alter-ego manifested in the beginning of the 2010s, Donny has blurred the lines of artifice to create a back cata-logue that can embrace and challenge - often simultaneously - the notion of irony in art. Mr Experience moves further away from ironic notions as Donny explores lyrical and musical themes which embody observations of maturation in his audience, his tightknit musical community, and himself. While 'mature' is a term that often rings hollow as an album descriptor, the term couldn't be more apt for Mr Experience. Previous album The Don was created with the luxury of time. The phenomenal response to that album across Europe and the United States - fuelled by accompanying music videos clocking in views in the millions - meant that there were scant windows of op-portunity to write and record a follow-up. With a legacy in Sydney's music community, working with Sarah Blasko, and tightknit collaborators Jack Ladder and Kirin J Callinan, Donny Benet is accustomed to collabora-tion on the stage and in the studio (most notably on the 2014 full-length release Week-end At Donny's).