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Toni Collette & the Finish
 As an actress, Toni Collette may be hot property both here and on big screens around the world firstly by gaining recognition as frumpy daydreamer, Muriel Heslop, in the ABBA-fuelled Aussie blockbuster, 'Muriel's Wedding' (1994), then scoring a major role opposite Bruce Willis a mere five years later in 'The Sixth Sense' and most recently in the highly acclaimed, 'Little Miss Sunshine'.
But how many of us know her as a singer? Taking time out between hectic filming schedules, Collette dusted off a collection of lyrics she'd written over many years, gathered up a group of musically-minded friends, which included Augie March's vocalist/guitarist Glenn Richards, and banged out an album of truly stark, honest and deceptively complex paeans on life as we know it. The result is a fragile labour of love that takes its own pace to unfurl its far deeper intentions; heralded by the title track and, the closest example of a 'pop' song, Look Up, 'Beautiful Awkward Pictures' may well prove to be the sleeper of the year. But only for those who care to listen.
"Yeah, I kind of felt that way about it too," says Collette, with a hint of rhapsody in her voice. "And we certainly don't get sick of playing the songs and that's what I hear when other people listen to them because they're quite textual and atmospheric. Well, they're probably not as autobiographical as you might hope," she playfully responds to my challenge of some of the song's origins. "I mean, obviously there's elements of that but one thing it does reflect is the way my perspective on life has changed. I think life is about growth and change and the earliest song that I actually wrote was Tent Waltz when I was 22, so that's coming up to 13 years ago. And the last song was Look Up, which was written pretty much right before we went into the studio. If some songs are not about me, then they're pretty much about my perspective on things."
In song, I query any parallels to some of the roles Collette has portrayed in her movies (i.e. passively dark and often helplessly dysfunctional). "I guess that depends on what you take from the characters or the music that I make," she answers. "Because sometimes I don't even understand what I'm doing and it can be very easy for other people to make assumptions on what these songs are about. And I also think people's interpretations are probably more of a reflection of what they are and I would never want to then say no, it's about this or about that because I think that's the best thing about music, you can then discover things for yourself and you can personalise it because something appeals to you."
Singling out a few tracks, we ricochet thoughts on Mosaic Life - a tune I believe to be the theme song for the thinking person's Muriel. "It's kind of got that sense of irony about it," she concurs, "because it's kind of taking the piss out of the existence that we're meant to have and what people expect of us, you know? To have a family with two kids and a white picket fence. I'm kind of doing that with a bit of irony," she laughs, knowingly. Next, Beautiful Awkward Pictures (which boasts an incredible video clip - is guaranteed to be played at a funeral near you. "Oh my God!" she exclaims. "Well, I guess if that did happen I could understand. It's not necessarily about loss but it does talk about experiencing the notion of potential loss. It's about trying to enjoy life even though ultimately we know nothing will last forever. That's the nature of life and the cycle of life." And the current single, Look Up: "I started writing that on a flight from Adelaide to Sydney," she explains, "and just being at 30,000 feet makes you look at things from a different perspective. I just started to think about the general decay of things and not just the planet, which obviously is of the highest importance. But also there's that lack of respect and compassion for other things that we're responsible for."
As for the chanteuse side of Toni Collette, "As a teenager I was a singer," she declares. "In fact, I was that girl in shopping centres and in talent quests, you know?"
Toni Collette And The Finish
play at Fowler's Live on Fri 9 March. 'Beautiful Awkward Pictures' is out now through Hoola Hoop Records
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