After almost five years and everything that went with it, Ned Collette returns to Australia to play a limited run of shows with some extra special guests. Having spent much of that time extensively and almost exclusively touring the US, Ned will reveal new material alongside work dating back to his seminal debut album Jokes & Trials, recently reissued by Feeding Tube Records. The Thirroul show at Franks Wild Years will see him play solo, and the bill will reunite him with his old Rand & Holland comrade Brett Thompson, debuting his new project Zabynec.

Collette has long established himself as a songwriter whose literate, evocative songs are paired with music that's both adventurous and eclectic. His early background in experimental guitar has resulted in six albums of uncompromising vision, released on a variety of international labels. 2018’s double LP Old Chestnut is a deep and complex folk song-cycle featuring musicians such as The Necks’ Chris Abrahams amongst Ned’s regular collaborators. His live performances drift between hazy, intimate folk and explorative jam-outs, while the excellent liner notes for the Jokes & Trials reissue describe “a rich velvet voice somewhere between fragile youth and aged sage”. Ned has also released albums such as 2019’s Afternoon—Dusk, a trio record of long-form instrumental music with James Rushford and Joe Talia, and is currently working on new material featuring Abrahams and Dirty Three’s Mick Turner. He has previously performed and worked with such artists as Joanna Newsom, Cat Power, Bill Callahan, St Vincent, Jim White and Deerhoof, amongst many others.