With the imminent release of his long-awaited fifth studio album, Dan Sultan is healthy, happy, and creatively firing on all cylinders like never before.
A period of personal turbulence culminating in a much-publicised 2018 fall from grace saw the Melbourne singer-songwriter take time to reflect and recharge. Now, five years sober and with the support of a loving family, the 40-year-old is back doing what he does best.
“Lately I’ve been feeling really fulfilled artistically, which is a really beautiful place to be as a writer and artist,” he says. “I’m not subjecting myself to the same expectations that I might have in the past, so I’m pretty chilled. Feeling fulfilled is a result of the peace [that I’ve found]. That peace is something, for me, that comes along from living your life and finding yourself in a good place. Things go up and things come down but finding that serenity and certainty in life is a good place to get to. I’ve still got ambition; I’m a father and I want my record to do well. It’s nice when I hear good things about it but I’m pretty chilled.”
The self-titled album sees Sultan reflecting on life, love, and sobriety, and was a chance for the songwriter to team up with Joel Quartermain, who shared production, songwriting, and playing duties across 11 tracks.
“It’s my favourite album that I’ve done,” Sultan says. “But that being said, anything that I’m working on at the time is always my favourite. At the same time, I can definitely feel the growth and evolution as a writer and as a person in this record. I’m in a really great spot and I feel really good about things. Feeling like that has allowed me to go to places artistically I haven’t been able to go before. A year or so before I started writing this record, I was really focussed on the more positive side of life, and it’s turned out well.”
Opener ‘Story’ is an intensely personal song with an autobiographical tale about the racism Sultan faced growing up as an Aboriginal person in Australia. It’s a story he has been waiting to tell his whole life.
“I’ve worked with really talented producers and writers in the past who know what that song is about,” Sultan says. “And they’ve told me it’s a great song and I’ve got to record it. It just came along with everything else that was happening in my life. A part of that was sobriety, but it was more than that. Through that comes a lot of self-esteem issues, and, if you’re doing good work, you start to feel better. A lot of it comes down to confidence and bravery. You don’t know how it’s going to go or how it’s going to feel but when you’re feeling brave you just do it.”
Another standout is ‘Fortress’ featuring Julia Stone.
“Julia is a good friend of mine; I’ve known her a long time,” Sultan says. “She’s a really great producer, songwriter, and performer. She asked me to be on a record with her at the end of 2019; a record of her friends doing Australian songs to raise money for the bushfire appeal. We were hoping to write a song for this record. Joel and I had this song [‘Fortress’], and we were doing a bit of show and tell in the studio and Julia was like, ‘Well, I wanna be on that!’. She went away and wrote a bridge that wasn’t there before, and we finished it off in the studio.”
A healthy and happy Dan Sultan, with new songs, a tight band, and support act Wilsn in tow, will be hitting the road to play Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne in September and October.
“I’m really proud of all the work I’ve done, and I’ve been able to achieve a lot,” Sultan says. “From where I have been in the past, I’m much happier and much more able to be brave now.”
For Scenestr
Paul McBride 