Howard Eynon

Australian actor-turned-musician Howard Eynon passed the bulk of his early years on a farm in rural Tasmania, then moved to Melbourne at seventeen in pursuit of a theatrical career. Through the 1970s and into the early 1980s he appeared in modest local productions while keeping music as a sideline. Journeys across Australia for shows and talent contests brought him into contact with producer Nick Armstrong, who offered studio time for a full album. Months of sessions yielded Eynon’s only release, So What If I’m Standing in Apricot Jam, a whimsical and often goofy set of acoustic psych-folk that recalls the lighter, more absurd impulses of songwriters such as Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett. Issued in 1974, the album soon disappeared from circulation and resurfaced four decades later via Earth Recordings. Details of Eynon’s life after a handful of stage appearances in the early 1980s remain scarce.