Track Listing

1. Tell Me I'm Wrong
2. Fake It
3. All Of My Love
4. Even Saints
5. Fall Heavy
6. Rumours
7. Last Train Home
8. Rebound Guy
9. Sydney Bound Train
10. Come Back
11. Lap It Up
12. All Of My Love (string reprise)

MICHAEL MEEKING

WHERE TO FROM HERE

"I've known Michael since he was 13, when he played in a band called Something Else at a 'battle of the bands' competition - they were very country, cork hats and all! It has been great to watch Michael's songwriting develop and evolve over the ensuing years to the point where he has released a wonderful collection of songs on his new solo CD. Not only a gifted songwriter and performer, the hard-working Michael is one of the genuinely decent people floating around in this thing called the music industry. It also helps that he barracks for North Melbourne!" - Neil Rogers, The Australian Mood, RRR

"Does absence make the heart grow fonder, or does it make the fond heart wonder?"

That's what Melbourne's Michael Meeking ponders on his new album, which marks his return home, after six years in the UK.

The album starts with the line: "There's a whiff of betrayal." And, as the story reveals itself over the course of a dozen achingly personal songs, this is clearly a break-up record, in the fine tradition of albums such as Dylan's Blood On The Tracks, Ryan Adams' Heartbreaker, and Colin Hay's Transcendental Highway.

Was there a happy ending?

"The jury is still out," Michael says.

This is an album about truth and lies. "When I fall, I fall heavy," Michael admits.

But amid all the upheaval, there is hope. "I can give you the song I sing," Michael sings in All Of My Love, "the words I write for you".

Does Michael find it easier to write songs when there's pain in his life?

"Yes, I think it is easier in some ways," he says. "I find it very therapeutic taking something negative and turning it into a positive. It helps me to process what I'm feeling in a creative way. And I guess when you are happy you don't always feel the same need to do it."

Where To From Here is also an album about having to confront your past; that in the end everyone has to go home.

"But now it's time for me to take the last train home," Michael sings, "I'm going home."

Michael had six years of musical adventures in the UK, fronting an act called Arctic Cowboy. "It was basically a studio project," he explains, "with myself and Irish violinist Vanda Woolsey, and recorded by Andy Jones, who had done a lot of work with great London bands Shortwave Set and Lord Large. We put out a couple of EPs and at one stage we had good interest from EMI London, but unfortunately it did not eventuate. Then when the Arctic Monkeys became so huge, we couldn't really keep calling ourselves that."

Back home, Michael is relishing seeing his beloved North Melbourne every week in the AFL, and he's also put the band back together, re-forming The Lost Souls to promote Where To From Here.

And the answer to the question, "Does absence make the heart grow fonder, or does it make the fond heart wonder?"

"Long distance relationships suck," Michael says. But then he smiles - he knows that after all the pain of the past six years, he's come home with a great album.

"With the passing of time, I'll be ready/ To pick up the world and whatever it sends me"

"Michael is a fine Australian storyteller … The Meeking might not inherit the earth, but he will impress with his passionate pop" - Jeff Jenkins, Music Australia Guide

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