''Vicarious'' is the fourth studio album by New Zealand band Strawpeople, featuring vocalist

Fiona McDonald Fiona Maude McDonald (born 1965) is a New Zealand pop singer and television personality. Singer McDonald's first involvement with music came through singing jingles for Auckland student radio station bFM. From that work she was asked to joi ...

. Released in 1996 by

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, the

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album produced by McDonald and Strawpeople member Paul Casserly was commercially successful, staying on the New Zealand charts for nearly six months and peaking at #4.Strawpeople - part two
''Audioculture''. Retrieved November 24, 2020. It was also awarded Album of the Year at the 1997 New Zealand Music Awards.

Development

The album was originally intended to feature Victoria Kelly as the vocalist and her and Casserly began writing songs together. However, she left New Zealand to study at a music school in the United States early in the album's development. This resulted in McDonald, a singer previously featured on Strawpeople tracks who was searching for a new musical project, being selected as the new vocalist. Casserly and McDonald wrote the songs for the album in McDonald's spare room at her

Grey Lynn Grey Lynn is an inner suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, located to the west of the city centre. Originally a separate borough, Grey Lynn amalgamated with Auckland City in 1914. Grey Lynn is centred on Grey Lynn Park, which was not part of the ...

home as well as in Casserly's lounge. Kelly, Jeremy Morrow, Greg Johnson, and Mark Tierney (former member of Strawpeople who left the band in February 1996Strawpeople
''Muzic.net.nz''. Retrieved November 24, 2020.) are also credited as songwriters throughout the album. The album was then recorded at The Lab Studios in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and mixed at

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Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Composition

''Vicarious'' is distinct compared to other releases by Strawpeople, which contain numerous different vocalists and a number of covers. Comparatively, the album is absent of covers and McDonald is the sole vocalist. Casserly has stated that the album lacked cover songs as the band "realised that

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own songs were doing better than the covers," referring to the success of their original songs from previous albums such as "Sweet Disorder" and "Trick With A Knife," the latter song reaching the top 40 in Australia. However, by the band's next studio album, 2000's ''No New Messages'', they had returned to a mixture of covers and original material.

Singles

Three singles were released from ''Vicarious''. The first, "Taller Than God," spent 9 weeks on the New Zealand charts and reached #19."Charts.nz – Strawpeople – Taller Than God"
Hung Medien. Retrieved November 24, 2020. The next two singles, "Boxers" and "Spoiler," reached the charts but were less successful, peaking at #44 and #47 respectively."Charts.nz – Strawpeople – Boxers"
Hung Medien. Retrieved November 24, 2020"Charts.nz – Strawpeople – Spoiler"
Hung Medien. Retrieved November 24, 2020. Two of the singles earned nominations at the New Zealand Music Awards: "Taller Than God" was nominated for Single of the Year and "Boxers" was nominated for Best Songwriter.Award History
(search for 'Boxers'). ''Aotearoa Music Awards''. Retrieved November 24, 2020.

Track listing

Sources: SpotifyVicarious by Strawpeople
''Spotify''. Retrieved 24 November 2020. and CD liner.

Personnel

* Paul Casserly – production, programming, instrumentation *

– vocals, production, programming, instrumentation * Jeremy Allom – mixing * Trent Williamson – mixing assistance * Steve Smart – mastering * Victoria Kelly – instrumentation (tracks 2-3), string arrangements (tracks 1, 4, 7, 10) * Mark Tierney – instrumentation (tracks 2-3) * Jeremy Morrow – programming, production (track 9) * Greg Johnson – trumpet (tracks 3, 5) * Andrew McLaren – percussion (tracks 1, 4, 11) *

Chris Van de Geer Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...

– guitar (track 11) *

Chris Matthews Christopher John Matthews (born December 17, 1945) is an American political commentator, retired talk show host, and author. Matthews hosted his weeknight hour-long talk show, ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'', on America's Talking and later on M ...

– guitar (tracks 4, 11) * Steve Harrop – double bass (track 5) * Jane Cooper – cello * Nigel Keay – viola * Miranda Adams – violin * Matt Fields – double bass * Jocelyn Healy – violin * Katherine Hebley – cello Source: CD liner.

Development

Composition

Singles

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References