Tasmanian born and now based in Melbourne, Australia, folk-soft rock singer-songwriter, Joseph Mackey is the man behind the musical project, Coconut Shy.
During a trip to the United States in 2017, Joseph had a 4th July celebration encounter with a stranger playing on a vintage ‘Coconut Shy’ machine. It was from this experience that the name was developed for his project.
With a songwriting journey that began at the tender age of 14, Joseph began exploring open mic nights around Tasmania before beginning his journey playing pubs, bars, cafes and mini festivals.
The latest single release from Coconut Shy tells a story about human nature.. the behaviour of consistently dwelling in the past and the feeling of melancholia that is left behind as a result. The song acknowledges the simple pleasures that are around us in the now, that we tend to overlook.
“It’s a nostalgic and reminiscent track, but it doesn’t want to be.. The song was sort of my way of looking into the mirror and saying ‘Hey man, the past is done. Let’s propel forward.’ It’s me trying to pull myself out of a dwelling-in-the-past mindset.” Coconut Shy
Written alongside the next track to be released, ‘The Finest Day’, Joseph gave a little sneak peak into what is to come within his release performance in Camberwell, Melbourne. We are looking forward to feeling the coming together of the two halves of Coconut Shy’s writing process.
“The way the writing process unfolded was so strange and unexpected. I had the one idea for a song, but it sort of spilled out into two different versions. I think of them as twins.”
You can find more of Coconut Shy at:
You can listen to ‘Water, Water’ below:
Karen Harding is a Melbourne, Australia based singer/songwriter, founder of Sounds On The Couch, and founder and operator of boutique music PR service for emerging and independent artists, Rise Indie.