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For singer-songwriter Dave Anderson, music has always been a way to channel the deepest, most complicated emotions. His second album, These Lies That Divide Us, dives headfirst into heartbreak, longing, and the haunting echoes of relationships that never quite worked out, all told with a raw honesty that is unmistakably his own. From the layered intensity of “Demons” to the darkly humorous “Didn’t Write This for You,” Anderson’s songs are as emotionally rich as they are sonically adventurous.
In a candid conversation, Anderson opens up about the personal stories behind his songs, the creative process that takes him from a simple guitar riff to fully formed compositions, and the moments that define his music, from impromptu jam sessions in rural Victorian barns to deeply introspective lyrics inspired by life’s toughest experiences. Whether exploring the haunting pre-chorus of “Your Ghost” or the rare happiness of “Forever,” he reveals how vulnerability and authenticity drive every note he writes.
These Lies That Divide Us is widely available on streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, and Boomplay.
What inspired the title of your second album, These Lies That Divide Us?
I usually pull the album title from a song. In this case, the song “Your Ghost”, which retells the feeling of being constantly haunted by someone you ‘used to love’. The pre-chorus is:
“I try to tell myself be calm, try not to hear the alarms
But this deafening silence, these lies that divide us, is you”
So These Lies That Divide Us is, in effect, the story of wanting to be together, but it can’t work for the reasons I simply cannot even go into. So you live with the disappointment, the ghosts, the feelings of what could have been, but never could be. It’s the perfect title for how I approach a lot of my songs, which is this yin-yang between opportunity and disappointment, from longing and darkness.
At some point, you should just grow up and write something happy, right? That’s what “ Didn’t Write This For You” was about. It’s a song my wife asked me to write for her, but I said, “Sad songs are beautiful when told without lies.”
So basically, no matter what I do, I simply can’t find the ability to write happy, yellow, sunshine songs. I have this hint of deep aching, which comes out, and hopefully leaves me in song.
Which track on the album was the most challenging to write or produce, and why?
Demons was easily the hardest song. It’s a looped, dark, layered song when played live. I would throw any sound at it until the voices, echoes, and layers are simply crashing in on everyone. But when you are layering in a computer-generated window, I found it hard to bring the rawness out.
My producer was sharing examples of how Glycerin from Bush is a big raw song, but it has no percussion. But I wasn’t having any of that. I sometimes struggle to get the actual instrument sounds out, so I would sing them to the band. The interesting thing is, midway through recording this, a BIG storm hit. We were recording in a barn in rural Victoria, and it was as eerie as the night I wrote the song, and I got a wind of inspiration as to how and when the big toms come in.
I still don’t feel we fully nailed how dark this song really is or how big it can be live, but I like it for my own memory of how it came to be.
When writing a song, do you usually start with lyrics, melody, or something else entirely?
Songs come to me as I sit and play the guitar or piano. I will just noodle, and then words and harmonies just come very naturally. I mostly worry I am copying another song, but I tend to just let it come. After a verse or a chorus, I’ll test it on my wife to see if it passes her test. I have had two experiences where an entire song came to me, with every single word, verse, chorus, and outro perfectly executed. That was odd.
I also had a terrible experience writing a verse to a song:
“Sometimes I wish that I could fly so high, that I could never come back down, that I would never touch the ground beneath me.”
Without knowing, at the same moment, a friend of mine took her life by jumping off a cliff. I still cannot explain it to this day, and I tend not to talk about it.
The next day, I went into the studio and recorded the rest of the song with my producer. It’s on Wish It All Away, and it’s called “Life Turned Grey”. It’s probably the one song where, if you listen carefully, you can hear my lyrics are fully broken in emotion.
How does your background in tech and podcasting influence your approach to creating music?
My background in music has helped my background in tech. I now say to students and my kids, “If you can stand on stage and perform a song about lost love, and literally pour your heart out, talking about tech soundly seems easy.”
If you could describe the mood of These Lies That Divide Us in three words, what would they be?
Haunted, Unresolved, True.
Has a particular life experience shaped the sound or themes of your latest album?
I tend to write about what I feel is deep within me. I hold my deeper thoughts close, yet buried within me is a soul that thinks and feels deeply. I often channel these feelings via ‘a certain someone’ that never was meant to be. She appears a lot in my songs, and I’ve tried to turn her off, but I think I’m stuck. In Write You Away, I said, “I thought that maybe it would be ok to prolong my own abuse, and dedicate a few hundred songs I wrote you. So here I am at 199, this is the last one you get.”
That part isn’t true now, is it, because she’s still turning up, even though now my new songs I am creating, I have managed to share some more uplifting stories or even letters to my kids.
For the sound of the album. I had demos, and I simply wanted to see where the songs would take us. I wanted natural, no AI, no overproduction. We had a specific piano sound we wanted, kind of honky tonk for the song “Write This For You.” We drove 2 hours to get it, at a friend’s barn. While we were recording the piano, we just kept layering on incredible organ sounds and more keys, including a piano accordion. That day shaped the album. It was simply just a jam session that turned into the mix of how the songs would lay. I have videos from that session, which I look back on and think how special it was.
Which track do you feel best represents your personal artistic identity?
They are all my kids. I can’t pick a favourite. I love them all for different reasons. I guess the one song is ‘Forever’ because I finally wrote a song for my wife that was happy. I asked a friend to play it at my wedding. But then also it’s the odd one out, isn’t it? I also recorded that myself, without my producer. We tried recording it together, but I couldn’t make it work. When I had time and space, it came together nicely, and it’s perfect, because it’s the last song on the album. The irony is “Somethings Gotta Give” is also about my wife, but it’s not exactly uplifting. Instead, the story is the opposite.
What I like most is that people choose different songs for different reasons. Lately, Crazy is a highway one, set it and forget it, inspired by watching too much Sons of Anarchy. Your Ghost comes from my love of Pearl Jam, and having a song that could rock. I didn’t set out to make it this way; it just did. I guess the others that people like “Is This Really Love” is what people say is the single, but I just don’t feel that way about it. It’s fine, I wrote it to be upbeat, but I just don’t have enough heart in that song.
Miss the Old Days is great. It’s my yin-yang between loving tech, but hating where we are headed. I wrote that on a tram in Melbourne, reflecting on how the train conductors are gone and we now have iPhones.
What’s your favorite part of the songwriting process: the first spark of an idea or the final mix?
Both. I love it when I realise I have written something good. I love hearing others hear a song. By the time I’ve heard the final mix, I’m already writing something else.
How do you balance vulnerability and authenticity when writing deeply personal songs?
I don’t. I just write what I feel. I should care more, I guess, but I don’t. If it comes out, it comes out.
If you could collaborate with any musician, living or dead, who would it be and why?
I’m a huge Eddie Vedder fan. Always have been. Just love his voice, his lyrics, his songs, their performances. It spoke to me as a 15-year-old; it speaks to me today. I am nothing like Eddie, not cryptic enough, and can’t sing like him, so we might make a good song together one day. Who knows ha ha.
Do you ever write songs inspired by current events or social themes?
I have recently, but have not recorded them yet. I wrote a song about those guys that killed their parents: The Mendez Brothers. I watched the movie, and it was simply a lot to take in. I mean, how on earth did they think they could get away with it, and why would you do such a thing? So I’ve written this song “Monsters”. Shotgun, in the middle of the night. Taking aim to end their lives. Trying to make a claim for greatness, but didn’t think about the consequences.
You aren’t a sinner or a saint. You’re f*&kn insane.
It’s a weird song, but I think it works, and I’ll probably record it.
How do you know when a song is “finished” and ready to release?
My wife and producer tell me. Cam McKenzie is the producer of the last album. He’s recorded some of the best songwriters and acts in Australia, and if he says “yes, it’s good” or “nope, don’t like it,” I usually go with his decision.
But I’m also learning to trust my own instinct, and if it doesn’t make Cam’s list, it sits in my “weekend projects” songs that I noodle on. One of them was “It’s You,” which was literally recorded on a keyboard in the lounge room, with friends over from Australia.
Are there any songs you’ve written that you’ve never released, and why?
I’ve written 200 songs, and released maybe 20. So 10%. Some are too hard to record yet, or I haven’t figured out what I want to do with them. Some are simply terrible and will never see the light of day. Sometimes songs on the ‘this is a terrible song list’ make it back into the mix. Weirdly.
How has your music evolved since your first album?
I enjoy it more. I am okay with how I sound and what I want to do. With my first album, I wanted to make a big impression, play big shows, and tour. Now, I just want people to appreciate the music and send me a note to say, “thanks I loved it”.
So I write and record now for me, for my pleasure, and to see others enjoy my art.
What’s the most unexpected place or moment someone has connected with your music?
I was in a pub once, and I started tapping away to a song. I was like, “Where do I know this from?” and “Who sings this?”
Me. That was weird. I said to the barman, “That’s my song.”
I’m not sure he believed me, though.
Do you have a dream scenario for performing your songs live?
Somewhere quite, dark room, candles, people sitting comfortably, bottles of red wine. Dark songs deserve dark rooms.
Which song on These Lies That Divide Us was the first you wrote for this album, and how did it set the tone for the rest?
I had a set of 25 songs, and we cherry-picked them. We didn’t have a theme, we didn’t have a plan. We just picked what we liked. A couple of songs were written during the process; “Your Ghost” was one of them, which gave the album the bigger rock sound I really wanted. It was a really organic process, I guess, and I felt like the songs work together.
Is there a track on the album that’s especially personal or autobiographical for you?
Nearly every song I write has meaning. If it doesn’t, I don’t bother.
I wrote forever for my wife. The one song that doesn’t end in heartbreak. I had a friend play it for us at our wedding, so this song means a lot to me and probably proves I could write songs about love if I set my mind to it.
But who wants to do that when you have 20 songs about heartbreak that fill my glass every time I open a bottle of wine and try to write. Don’t know what it is, I’m just built with a dark underbelly, I guess. Getting them out of my body, so I can move on with my life, is usually how I see it.
Which song was the most fun to perform or record in the studio?
Didn’t Write This For You. This is a funny song. I literally have a demo of my wife saying, “Why can’t you write something upbeat, why can’t you write something happy, why can’t you write a song for me?”
She said write me a song. And I told her I had.
No, not like the other ones, don’t make it sad.
She wants a song about love
Where the girl gets the guy
But I said sad songs are beautiful when told without lies
But these words mean nothing, mean nothing, it’s true.
I didn’t write this for you.
When we played this as a band, or even re-listened to it, someone would laugh. It sounds like a sea shanty, which is why we went for this honky tonk piano. But the lyrics are comical in that person, i.e me, is saying – I don’t care what you want, you aren’t getting it, this is my music and my songs.
Was there a particular lyric in any song that almost didn’t make it onto the album?
Everything was recorded as is.
Are there songs that you wrote in response to a specific event or experience?
Yep, my wife asked me to write her a love song, and instead I wrote her a song about how she’s not getting one. She hates it. I love it.
Which track feels the most experimental compared to your previous work?
It’s probably “Lately, Crazy,” because the riff of that song was sitting with me for ages. What I didn’t consider was the layered vocals. Cam and I went with a doubling effect on the vocals for that one, so it feels really wide and open. It was the first song on the album, and I love it.
If you had to pick a “hidden gem” from the album that deserves more attention, which would it be?
Demons is an absolute belter to play live. It’s dark, builds, repeats, layers, and explodes. I really like my lyrics, even though they repeat. “It’s Saturday night, and I don’t feel like dancing. I might just open up a bottle of memories. The dark clouds are fast approaching, because what I want I know that I can’t achieve.”
It really sums up the album and my approach to songs. I often tell people that it’s probably best not to put this album on and go for a run. You might find yourself walking home.
