Murray Paterson

Murray Paterson is an Australian songwriter and musician. He is most notable for his collaborations with Tex Perkins and his own recording project, Headland.

Collaboration with Tex Perkins The main vehicle for Paterson's collaborations with Tex Perkins was the band Dark Horses, but he also contributed to albums by Tex, Don and Charlie.

Paterson and Perkins co-scored the soundtrack for the film Beautiful Kate, the directorial feature debut from Rachel Ward. With Perkins he received an ARIA nomination in 2009 for Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show Album for the soundtrack.

Headland

Headland is an Australian musical collective focussing on sound-scaping for film, often centred on surf culture and regional coastal landscapes. It is directed by Murray Paterson. It began as a film retrieval project in which 8mm film shot by amateur moviemakers involved with the Northern NSW surf culture in the 1970s was collected and archived. The resulting score LP, sound/track (HL01), was released in Australia in 2013 followed by a 2014 release in the UK and Europe. Subsequent Headland releases are the LPs True Flowers from This Painted World (HL03, 2017) and What Rough Beast (AGIT54, 2019) which was released in the UK through Agitated Records. A vinyl EP, Cosy (HL02), was released in 2014.

Since 2018 Headland has worked closely with filmmaker Ishka Folkwell producing bespoke soundtracks for a range of short and feature-length films. The films are primarily poetic travel-pieces featuring surfer Torren Martyn. Releases include: A Sense of Space (HL04, 2018) Nordurland (HL05, 2019) On Top of the World (HL06, 2020) Lost Track New Zealand (HL07, 2021) Bonney Upwelling (HL08, 2021) Lost Track Atlantic: Episode 1 (HL09, 2021) Lost Track Atlantic Episodes 2, 3 & 4 (HL011, 2021) Distant Shore (HL12, 2022) Slow Lane (HL13, 2023) Calypte (HL16, 2023) Reflection (HL17, 2024).

In 2021 Headland collaborated with Maanyung, a proud Aboriginal man with strong connections to Gumbaynggir and Yaegl nations.

The group has strong working relationship with The Surf Film Archive and has performed live scores to several presentations byJolyon Hoff of restored archival surf film. In 2022 and 2023 Headland produced full-length feature-film soundtracks for LightSoundArtFilm: Watandar tells the story of Afghan refugee and photographer Muzafar Ali; You Should Have Been Here Yesterday is an homage to Australia’s early surf-culture using a collage of lovingly restored footage from The Surf Film Archive.

Members The collective of musicians is directed by multi-instrumentalist Paterson.

Members include Gus Agars, (Marlon Williams Band), Sam Anning, Pat Bourke (Dallas Crane), Amanda Brown (The Go-Betweens), Brock Fitzgerald (Wolf & Cub), Ken Gormly (The Cruel Sea), Dan Luscombe (The Drones), Skritch (Gota Cola), Joel Silbersher (GOD, Hoss, Tendrils), and Scott Tinkler (Australian Art Orchestra).

Accolades MOJO Magazine gave True Flowers from This Painted World 4 Stars. The Sydney Morning Herald made sound/track album of the week and awarded it 4 Stars. MOJO Magazine gave What Rough Beast 4 Stars. Surfing the Headland reached the top ten in various shops in England in 2014, including Manchester.

Awards and nominations The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony held by the Australian Recording Industry Association. They commenced in 1987. 2009 Beautiful Kate (with Tex Perkins) Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album

Other activities Paterson lectured in contemporary art theory at Southern Cross University, Lismore, New South Wales between 1999 and 2013.

He received his Doctorate of Philosophy for the ficto-critical work Wonderstruck in 2002.

Discography Albums

With Headland +LPs with detailsTitleDetailssound/track Release: 2013 Format: Vinyl, CD, Digital Headland Records (HL01)True Flowers from this Painted World Release: 2017 Format: Vinyl, CD, Digital Headland Records (HL03)A Sense of Space Release: 2018 Format: Digital Headland Records (HL04)Nordurland Release: 2019 Format: Digital Headland Records (HL05)What Rough Beast Release: 2019 Format: Vinyl, CD, Digital Agitated (AGIT054)Lost Track: New Zealand Release: 2020 Format: Digital Headland RecordsLost Track Atlantic Episode 1 Release: 2021 Format: Digital Headland Records (HL09)Lost Track Atlantic Episodes 2, 3 & 4 Release: 2021 Format: Digital Headland Records (HL11)Distant Shore Release: 2022 Format: Digital Headland Records (HL12)Slow Lane Release: 2023 Format: Digital Headland Records (HL13)Watandar Release: 2023 Format: Digital Headland Records (HL14)Something to do with love, but I don’t know what Release: 2024 Format: Digital Headland Records (HL16)

Extended plays [edit] +EPs with detailsTitleDetailsCosy EP Released: 2015 Format: Vinyl Label: Headland Records (HL02)On Top of the World Released: 2020 Format: Digital Label: Headland Records (HL06)Bonney Upwelling Released: 202 Format: Digital Label: Headland Records (HL08)Bullfinch Released: 2022 Format: Digital Label: whitelabrecs (eR003)Calypte Released: 2023 Format: Digital Label: Headland Records (HL16)Reflection Released: 2024 Format: Digital Label: Headland Records (HL17)

With Tex Perkins + List of albums, with selected details Title Details Beautiful Kate (Original Score) (with Tex Perkins) Released: August 2009 Format: CD Label: Level Two Music (L2012)