Floating Aimlessly by Russell Crawford

Russell Crawford is the man floating aimlessly on a sweet potato with a heart full of classic indie pop! Read on! Russell started out playing drums and in the last few years has been recruited to sit on the stool for some high profile names such as Josh Pyke, Perry Keyes, and Australian pop/rock legends “Cotton, Keays, Morris” (Darryl Cotton from Zoot, Jim Keays from Masters Apprentice and Russell Morris).

Our first glimpse of Russell’s songwriting potential was his 2006 release of “Hearing All That’s Heard” which received extensive radio airplay both in Australia and overseas. Influential USA label & music retailer Notlame
remarked “Crawford has a gifted voice and a confident knack for writing dexterous pop songs. A breath of fresh air."

Russell spent the next year promoting and touring the EP in solo mode but things came to an abrupt halt when “bad luck” struck and Russell fell victim to a crippling neck injury which put him flat on his back for six
months.

Healthy again in 2008, Russell’s appetite for pop music saw him drafted in to become hired gun session player for Josh Pyke (fulfilling bass, drums, guitar and piano duties on various tours and festivals). During this
period he worked night & day to complete his 2nd EP “Bad Luck”. The bad luck music video was very popular complete with old school animation, hand
drawn with a HB pencil and over 1000 sheets of paper.

The here and now sees Russell releasing his debut Album “Floating Aimlessly” which was recorded mostly in his home studio, with some finishing touches and mixing by Michael Carpenter at Love Hz Studios.

“Floating Aimlessly” is a bouncy, biting, piano driven masterpiece. The kind you would hear if “Ben Folds” jammed with “Neil Finn” with “Elvis Costello” chaperoning proceedings.

From the opening sprangs of “Overachiever” to the closing vocal harmonies of “Thank You For Being A Friend” Crawford unashamedly wears his
influences on his sleeves – from the Beatles and Tom Petty through to Ben Folds and Weezer. The closing track on the album is perhaps the most obvious indication of Crawford’s breadth of song writing influences in a sublime cover of an Andrew Gold classic.

With a dash of Hammond and a sprinkling of piano, a heavy dose of drums, plenty of spiky guitars and sheen of rich vocal harmonies, “Floating Aimlessly” bares all the hallmarks of a man mastering, and respecting, the
art of producing classic pop songs.

For Crawford, stepping into the limelight as songwriter and front man was clearly a smart move - nothing aimless about it!

This Australian multi-instrumentalist has built a solid reputation as one of Sydney’s finest and in demand drummers. However, many astute music fans also know Russell for the treasure trove of indie pop songs he released well over a decade ago. Fast forward to 2020 and a studio collaboration with Josh Pyke has kick started his return as a solo artist.