Larry Heath caught up with Boy & Bear's drummer/vocalist, Tim Hart, to chat about his solo project, shows and more.

Heading to The Grace Emily on a chilly Thursday night to see Tim Hart of Sydney’s Boy & Bear, there were two words I definitely didn’t expect to hear that evening (or ever, really): “testy” and “pop”. Yes, “testy pop”. Uttered at least twice by the Sydney indie-folk singer, songwriter, guitarist and, well... amateur comedian. He was actually referring to that high, cracked note teenage boys tend to hit during puberty. In short, Tim was losing his voice. Never the best news to hear at the beginning of a gig, but luckily the main thing Mr Hart was cracking that night was a lot of jokes between acoustic tunes and sips of hot water in an AC/DC mug.

Hearing one lone voice sing of heartbreak and sorrow often seems more intensely honest than the sound of several. Perhaps that’s why the debut solo album from Boy & Bear's Tim Hart is so beautifully melancholy and enthralling from one minute to the next. The drummer and vocalist has decided to step out from behind the kit with a very unpretentious debut as a singer/songwriter and guitarist.

Pictured: Michael Kiwanuka

Special Splendour Sideshow presented by Secret Sounds and London Label Communion. Curated by Ben Lovett of Mumford and Sons. Photography by Pete Dovgan

There's been a slew of festival news coming through the pipelines as of late, so we've compacted it all into a teeny-tiny bitesize morsel of deliciousness. Well, maybe if your mouth was as big as Linda Lovelace, and the morsel was se...you know what, let's not go there. Read on!

SXSW PanelPicker opens for 2013!

Lachlan Bryan solo tour

Lachlan Bryan is coming to Melbourne and Sydney to promote his debut album, Shadow of the Gun as well as his new single off the album, "Going Straight". He will be supported by Bill Chambers & The Weeping Willows (VIC) and Caitlin Harnett & Melody Pool (NSW). Check out the site for more information: http://www.lachlanbryan.com/news

Thursday June 14
- Melbourne: The Workers Club, Fitzroy
Friday June 22

Passenger heads out on his first-ever regional run through Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales, ahead of the release of his new album in February next year. The new dates come after a string of sell-out tours across the country, including the largest capital city tour so far, which featured rising star Ed Sheeran.

What we all thought would be a brief media/industry intimate showcase of one of the hottest artists in the UK right now, twenty year old Ed Sheeran, turned out to be a full solo set lasting almost two hours, with apt support from Boy & Bear's Tim Hart.