Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Andrew Bird was generous with his time, joining us over two days to film old songs, new songs, and improvised half-songs. He plucked, whistled, hummed and sang while we followed him through a backyard in Petersham, and long the pathway at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair in Sydney.

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We met Lightspeed Champion (Londoner and former Test Icicles member Dev Hynes) backstage at Oxford Arts Factory at precisely 4.15pm. We had everything organised right down to the songs he’d play and with a only a small timeframe to do it in, we were a little nervous. But Dev was relaxed, lighthearted and disarming — as with many other players — spontaneity reigned on the day. The store Celebrity Wigs was a little creepy. While Dev played to an audience of blank polystyrene faces, clad in the future headdress of drag queens and lady boys, business carried on as usual around us. Initially he had wanted to play a cover by The Veronicas and together we all tried to remember the lyrics for a good five minutes, but due to poor memory and a little nervousness on his part, Dev instead indulged us in a new track called The Kids.