NED COLLETTE - Mixed Light

To understand what had been settling in the thoughts of Ned Collette shortly before writing the eleven songs that make up his sixth solo album, “Mixed Light”, it helps to read the reflection the Australian singer-songwriter shared with music critic Dog Mosurock, whom he also asked to officially provide a description of the record on his behalf: "On a recent flight I turned on CNN to catch up on the news before landing, and all I saw was an hour of ads about the crucial importance of the news broadcast by CNN, without any actual news. It flew by like a TikTok feed for teenagers. Then again, I can still sit in a meadow with my kids listening to the hum of bees, and the hour slips away just as quietly and just as fast. There's really no need for all this noise." Words that say pretty much everything about the disillusionment of a musician whose songs have always conveyed a feeling of inner loss mingled with a deep emotional illumination. Proof of this lies in the exhilarating psych-folk-rock ride of “Paper Night”: barely nine minutes of acid-tinged forays worthy of a Tom Rapp but also of a Bruce Palmer in search of a home.

Once again backed by a formidable array of musicians, including Chris Abrahams of The Necks and the trusty Ben Bourke, alongside a new collaboration with Bonnie "Prince" Billy, who lends his voice to the brief, two-minute bucolic interlude of “The Kitchen” — ultimately the only "raw" moment that clashes with the orchestrated completeness of an album refined in every single arrangement — Collette further embraces his spirit of the exotic wanderer even in the romantic ballads written to piece together an otherwise missing emotional puzzle (“Commandereed Parade”).

We took shelter in new arms occasionally
But we knew
Nothing better to do
And all the answers were slow and
There was no way to prove them anyway
So I just believe you

Ned Collette moves across melodic planes, alternating baroque elegy with sudden shifts in tone, as happens in the elusive “The Light Is Growing Old” or in the synthetic stride of the following “Nothing Rare”, which mutates without warning into a rhythmic cataclysm with a restart worthy of Stereolab (!), one fit to define the disenchantment mentioned above.
The disheveled pied-piper turmoil continues in “Mammon” too, reflecting an approach partly different from his past work, which he explains as follows: "I think thematically this record is much more of a blend on both a lyrical and musical level".

A certain restlessness thus dominates, which then thins out in the more measured “Sleep Song”, with Leah Senior's voice duly backing Collette's vocals. And then there are the dim, melancholy lights of “Miami Shadows”, an instrumental placed at the end as a fitting close to an album that is often elusive, yet also seductive in its elegant composure. A mixed light, indeed, which Ned Collette switches on and off depending on his mood, without ever boring anyone in the process. Quite the opposite.

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06/10/2026