songwriter SHANE ANDRE
videographer KELSEY LEWIS
sailmaster JACQUES DEMANGE
Take a young and aspiring musician, give him some Tasmanian-themed inspiration, throw in a friend with a sailing boat, and you get something rather different for a Forty South feature article.
The musician is Shane Andre and he recently released a debut acoustic-rock single, Set Sail, which he says was inspired by his move from Melbourne to Hobart three years ago. The song came to him while sitting on the Spirit of Tasmania. The song embodies a sense of space, consisting of rhythmic strumming, soaring electric slides and dream-like melodies. “Over the last few years of living in Tasmania, the wind-swept coastlines and towering dolerite peaks have gradually bled into my music,” he says.
Then things got a little serendipitous. A good song deserves a good video to help the journey towards public awareness, and Shane Andre has a girlfriend, Kelsey Lewis, who is a filmmaker, and a mate, Jacques Demange, who is a sailor. Put them together and you have a video filmed on the Derwent. It, and the backing guitar and vocals of Shane Andre’s Set Sail, are offered to you here.
Set Sail will feature on a debut album, To Land Afar, to be released soon.
While Shane Andre provides the musical talent for this story, and Kelsey Lewis provides the cinematographic talent, Jacques Demange provides a background narrative of adventure. The video was filmed over several days in January and February, 2024, aboard his 27-foot yacht Saltair, but the days of sailing had a second purpose – preparation runs for a circumnavigation of Tasmania. That circumnavigation has since happened, Jacques and his partner Sam Poulsen, in the company of four other boats and their crews, taking a month to complete the round journey. They sailed from Hobart down the south coast to Port Davey, up the west coast to Three Hummock Island, across the Bass Strait to Flinders Island and back down the east coast.
In the words of Jacques Demange, it was the “trip of a lifetime, full of highs and lows, epitomising the Tasmanian cruising experience”.
“One moment you find yourself beating into a 35-plus knot headwind and a three-plus knot opposing current, and just when you think you've made it to a safe anchorage, your soul is crushed upon the discovery that most of your food is drenched from a leak of unknown origin. Then, within 24 hours, you are crossing Bass Strait doing seven knots with bioluminescent dolphins performing a ballet show, and it's all worth it.”
A Tasmanian experience, indeed.
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You can watch the video, and listen to the song, here:
