This Album Changed My Life: Hunter Kaine On ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ by Pink Floyd

Born in Melbourne, and raised in country Victoria, Hunter Kaine grew up in a house full of music and inspired to be a dancer. However, at 12-years-old, she fell in love with the beauty and honesty of country music, discovering the music of Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, Beccy Cole and Troy Cassar-Daley, and soon began entering local singing competitions and her creative path changed course.

After studying music production and sound engineering at university, she formed a country duo called Honey Train with David Jones, playing in Tamworth during the festival periods, and later became a vocalist for country rockers, Deep Creek Road.

She then travelled to Nashville to further her knowledge of music creation. It was here she met Phil Barton who passed Hunter a demo of Long Way From Lonely, which would become her breakout single. The longing ballad featured Shane Nicholson and peaked at #12 on the charts.

Last month, Hunter released her new single, Mind Of Its Own. Oozing country pop vibes, jangly acoustic guitars, and hook-laden vocals, wrapped around a beat that transports you smack bang into the middle of an arena stage mosh pit, yet behind that slick façade lies the tale of a tortured heart. The bop came to Hunter pre-pandemic, as she was collecting songs for her debut album.

To get to know Hunter a little better, we asked her to tell us about an album that changed her life.

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Hunter Kaine on ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ by Pink Floyd

“The Dark Side of the Moon is a seminal album for me, a masterful and hypnotic sonic odyssey, and a vivid snapshot of the human experience.

The Dark Side of the Moon was recorded at Abbey Road, between 1972 and 1973. A concept album, a body of work that many see as a work of art. I was first exposed to this album as a child, by my older brother. Even then, I recall having a knowingness that Pink Floyd’s music would inform me of the struggles of life and lessons in history. Little did I know that it was going to accompany me throughout my own personal music journey and be a mentor in production, the craft of songwriting and vulnerability. Waters’ lyrics, touching on alienation, paranoia, madness, war and inevitably, spoke to my soul in a powerful way.

Standout songs on this mesmerising musical muse are The Great Gig in the Sky, a wordless and haunting vocal, gifted by singer Clare Torry who chose to use her voice entirely as an instrument. 

Time — a lamentation on wasting valuable time that you will someday wish you had back, its meaning packed with lyrical images about lost opportunities, nostalgia, and regret. It is noted for its long introductory passage of clocks chiming and alarms ringing, recorded as a quadrophonic test by Alan Parsons, not specifically for the album.

Us and Them describes the senseless nature of war and the ignorance of modern-day humans who have been taken over by consumerism and materialism. Powerful, and always instructive.  

Music, like all art, is about choices and one can only see, hear, or appreciate those choices through the prism you view it through. So, this courageous album, boundless and wise beyond its years, continues to be a soundtrack to my life. Like a mirror, it has only ever revealed to me what I’ve been prepared to acknowledge and explore within myself.”

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For more of our This Album Changed My Life series, go here.
And keep up to date with Hunter Kaine on her Facebook page here.