Lachlan Denton // Lachlan Denton & Studio Magic
As a member of Australian indie collective the Ocean Party, Lachlan Denton shared songwriting duties with five other bandmates. With a surplus of songs, Denton branched out solo with stripped-down and introspective singer/songwriter fare. When his brother and fellow Ocean Party member Zac Denton died suddenly in 2018, a heartbroken Lachlan poured his grief into the sadly beautiful tribute songs of second album A Brother.
Based out of Melbourne, prolific songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lachlan Denton spent much of his time juggling bands Ciggie Witch and the Ocean Party, or occasionally sitting in as a drummer for Velcro. Though all of his bands went in slightly different directions, they all shared the same wistful jangle of classic lovestruck college rockers like the Go-Betweens or Felt. When Denton struck out with a four-song solo EP in 2017, he maintained the grey melodic sensibilities of his bands but channeled them into softer, more vulnerable songs of heartache and loss. His first proper album, Two Months in Ben Woolley's Room, arrived the next year. The title was at least somewhat literal, as he sublet a room for two months to work on the album as a means of recovering from the end of a years-long relationship.
In October 2018, Denton's brother and close collaborator Zac died suddenly at age 24 from complications surrounding a brain cyst. In the wake of this tragedy, Denton assembled friends from bands such as No Local, Skydeck, Cool Sounds, and more, forming a band loosely titled "Studio Magic" to help record a set of songs in loving tribute to his departed brother. Heartbreaking and straightforward, the songs made up Denton's second album, A Brother, which saw release in the summer of 2019.
