Ross James McLennan is an Australian indie rock musician and songwriter. He was the founding mainstay of indie guitar pop band,

Snout A snout is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a muzzle, rostrum, or proboscis. The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the nose of many mammals is c ...

, from 1991 to 2002. He undertook a side project, Meuscram, with his younger brother, Lindsay (a.k.a. Link Meanie of the Meanies) to deliver a lo-fi self-titled album in 1995. McLennan has issued four solo albums, ''Hits from the Brittle Building'' (February 2004), ''Sympathy for the New World'' (February 2008), ''The Night's Deeds Are Vapour'' (2013) and ''All the Colours Print Can Manage'' (October 2017). ''Sympathy for the New World'' was short-listed for the

Australian Music Prize The Australian Music Prize (often shortened to the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The award was made by Australian Music Pri ...

for 2008.

Biography

1980s-1990: The Hybrid

Ross McLennan started his music career in Melbourne in the mid-1980s on bass guitar and vocals in a pop group, the Hybrid, alongside Peter Caffyn on trumpet, Phil Faiers on drums, Drew Nelson on saxophone and Rob Wolf on guitar and vocals. Australian musicologist,

Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the '' Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...

, felt they were, "Utilising a solid pop base, the band was able to lay catchy melodies, punky guitar riffs and blazing horn arrangements over the top." They issued a single, "The Iceman Cometh" (October 1989) and an extended play, ''The Getting Weird of Nigel Budweg'' (1990). The Hybrid disbanded in November 1991.

1991-2002: Snout & Meuscram

McLennan and Wolf formed an indie guitar pop trio,

, with Hugh Williams on drums. They issued four albums, ''What's that Sound?'' (1994), ''The New Pop Dialogue'' (1996), ''Circle High & Wide'' (1998) and ''Managing Good Looks'' (2001). While that group was in hiatus in 1995, McLennan (as Ross Snout) formed a lo-fi duo, Meuscram, with his older brother, Lindsay (a.k.a. Link Meanie of the Meanies) on guitar to release an album, '' Meuscram – Featuring the Sounds of Link Meanie & Ross Snout'' (October 1995) via

Au Go Go Records Au Go Go Records is the name of a Melbourne, Australia based independent record label. It was founded by Bruce Milne and Philip Morland from a house in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy in 1979 and was later operated by Greta Moon. The label start ...

. Snout broke up in November 2002.

2003- present: solo career

McLennan released a solo album, ''Hits from the Brittle Building'' in February 2004, via W. Minc.

Bernard Zuel Bernard Zuel is an Australian music journalist. Zuel wrote for Fairfax Media newspapers ''The Age'' and ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' since 1992. He became their senior music writer and reviewer. Zuel is a judge of the Australian Music Prize a ...

of ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' observed that he, "still has the schnoz for a bittersweet pop gem... tcan veer from utterly charming yet with a wicked heart, to sharply spiked, but with a soft, almost delicate centre." McLennan recalled how he had first used, "computer recording replacing tape machines and stuff. Cal Orr, who was managing Snout in the 90s, built me a computer and set it up for me and I just went for it... The mixing is pretty wacky. The fidelity of that record is pretty in your face. I didn't really know anything about creating space in mixes, everything's really up and your face and crowded. It was such fun." His second solo album, ''Sympathy for the New World'' was released in 2008 via Mistletone Records. ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

''s Jo Roberts compared it to his previous album, " tswims even deeper into fantastic labyrinthine worlds of singing strings, ghostly brass and fluid, visceral sounds that take on an almost filmic quality, especially when paired with McLennan's vivid, at times out-there lyrics. Like Beck, Brian Wilson or Lambchop's Kurt Wagner, McLennan's musical vision is unimpeded by predictability or tradition." McLennan felt, "it's a lot darker kind of record. I think my lack of humour was starting to kick in a bit. I was also on medication at the time and that changed my brain a little bit too." ''Sympathy for the New World'' was nominated and then short-listed for the

(AMP) of 2008. A third solo album, ''The Night's Deeds Are Vapour'', was released in 2013. It was long-listed for the AMP of 2013. In October 2017 he issued his fourth solo album, ''All the Colours Print Can Manage''.

Discography

Albums

Awards and nominations

Australian Music Prize

The

(the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. The commenced in 2005. , - , 2008 , ''For the New World'' , Australian Music Prize , , -

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLennan, Ross Australian musicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people)