Free Time formed in the summer of 2012 around Melbourne luminary songwriter Dion Nania (Panel of Judges). After moving to New York in 2011, Nania kicked around for a while, played some lead guitar with fellow Melbourne transplants, Scott and Charlene’s Wedding, then helped out the Twerps, playing bass on a national tour.
Shortly thereafter, he began writing new songs with the intent of putting a new band together, eventually enlisting the support of Adrienne Humblet on bass, Jonah Maurer on guitar, and Michael Mimoun on drums. Filling out Nania’s jangly, sometimes heartbreaking pop, the band quickly recorded most of their first LP the day before Dion flew home to mix it. He returned with fragments for new songs and the band finished the record in December 2012.
Nania’s songs tell stories of following love across the world, of being unsure about the future and of his place in it. Like the trans-Pacific ping pong of the last two years of his life, his songs veer between sweet sadness and wild exuberance. Free Time’s eponymous debut is due for release on May 28, 2012.