BREAKING
ALEX CAMERON
BY NATE ROGERS PHOTOS BY CARA ROBBINS
BACKSTORY: A conceptual lounge act who uses minimalist synth-pop to contort into a variety of shapes— none of which may be his own
FROM: Sydney, Australia
YOU MIGHT KNOW HIM FROM: Supporting the likes of Angel Olsen and Thee Oh Sees on tour alongside his business partner and saxophonist Roy Molloy
NOW: Formally sharing unto the world his debut, Jumping the Shark, out now on Secretly Canadian
IT’ S NINE O’ CLOCK ON A SUMMER NIGHT IN PARIS, and Alex Cameron is inside watching the cats. Not his cats, mind you( he’ s just“ holed up” taking care of them in two different apartments in the 3rd arrondissement), and who knows where he ' d be if he didn ' t get the short end of the time zone stick for an interview with an American publication. But he does admit that he’ s been laying low for a little bit before the arrival of his debut album, Jumping the Shark, and the hard months of touring that he and his business partner Roy Molloy have ahead of them.
“ I’ m enjoying talking to people that I’ ve never met,” he cracks, using the opportunity to introduce me to both his sense of humor and his Australian accent at the same time.“ It’ s a little bizarre right now— there’ s cats meowing at me and all that good stuff.”
This is a press circuit that’ s been a long time coming for Cameron. Going back as far as 2013, Jumping the Shark was actually already available online as something of a business card, as he describes it, picking up dividends from die-hards and gathering interest from obscure corners of the web. It eventually found its way to the Bloomington, Indiana – based label Secretly Canadian, who decided to give it a proper release. And then, just like that, after several years of slightly premature warning, Cameron’ s original message to newcomers on his gloriously ridiculous website was finally up to date:“ STICK IT UP YOUR ARSE,” it reads,“ I’ M THE NEW GUY IN TOWN.”
Speaking about Jumping the Shark, Cameron is confident and enthusiastic— and he should be. The album is as devastating as it is awe-inspiring, using synth-based arrangements to present eight different mini-narratives about a wide selection of seedy characters. It recalls Randy Newman’ s 12 Songs( were it to be performed by
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