This week we are crushing on California-based and mesmerizing singer songwriter, Ashe, as she officially releases her new single “Hope You’re Not Happy” via Mom+Pop Music, out today. The platinum artist has reaped great success throughout her career, and we’re thrilled to be blessed with new music from the powerful star.
Speaking on the track, Ashe proclaimed “Some songs are about acceptance and moving on; wishing someone the best even though you’re not together anymore,” said Ashe. “This is not that song. ‘Hope You’re Not Happy’ is about the harsh truth that us all at some point hope the person we’re no longer with is miserable without us.” Ashe’s dusky delivery coasts over embers of acoustic guitar and a soft beat on the anthemic breakup track. Her voice swoons on the string-laden refrain, “I hope you’re not happy without me.” The track is a further testament to her resilience and we admire the truthfulness that lies within her melodies. The track follows “Another Man’s Jeans,” Ashe’s first piece of new music since the release of her debut album Ashlyn. The record featured “Till Forever Falls Apart” with FINNEAS, which was named one of the best songs of 2021 by the Los Angeles Times and recently surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify. Ashe’s meteoric rise includes amassing over 1.8 billion streams, 230 million video views, 7.4 million monthly Spotify listeners and a 4 million combined social media reach. She has a diverse group of notable fans including Diane Keaton, Brian Wilson, Niall Horan, Shawn Mendes, Camilla Cabello, FINNEAS, Maggie Rogers, Dove Cameron, Arlo Parks and Sam Fischer. Stereogum praised her as a “wonderfully engaging writer with a flair for the dramatic,” while ELLE called her “an incredible lyricist” and Variety declared she’s a “giant young talent.” "Hope You're Not Happy" is available to stream on all platforms now.
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This week we are crushing on Hobart based, chilled pop groovers Kudo Joy who have just released their latest single “Fallout” accompanied by a stunning music video co-produced by Sabine Bester and Jacob Collings, directed by Takani Nimby.
Fallout is Kudu Joy’s first release since 2020 and is like no other. Sabine's smooth, soft vocals accompanied by low beats and trumpets create a hypnotic listening experience. The track goes into detail regarding the emotional toll of losing friendships, reflection and then learning to rebuild as an individual. Speaking on the single, Sabine said, “Fallout was formed through a late-night jam on an old Juno with my dear friend Jay Jarome. I had just been through a testing period of friendships falling apart, and I was in a place where I felt ready to reflect on what had gone down. I’d spent months feeling disappointed in myself and shouldering the blame, so this song helped me unpack what had actually happened, and to gain back some confidence and self worth. It’s an unapologetic awakening from a place of darkness… Where I learned to stand up for myself”. The band consists of Sabine Bester on Vocals and Trumpet, Thomas Hann on Guitar and Vocals, Jay Jarome on Keys and Vocals, Sasha Gavleck on Bass and Lewis Elliot on drums. Kudu Joy have released three singles, and are in the process of recording their first EP, some of their influences being traditional Balkan music learned from Sabine’s mother along with Irish reels from the other families. “We ventured to the rugged west coast of Tasmania to capture Premonition. I packed all my besties into a hire van with some food and blankets, and we set off for a weekend of chasing pretty light across dunes and shoving hot water bottles down jackets between shots. A number of months later, and after many a late night of editing, we pieced together a vibrant, energetic visual accompaniment to the latest Kudu Joy songs. It’s a tale of healing; the subtle story unfolds through a selection of tarot cards being drawn, as I explore distant lands and find comfort from the characters who arrive along the way. Paired alongside the release of Fallout is their new music video, Co-Produced by Sabine Bester and Jacob Collings, directed by Takani Nimby, with lighting by Gabriel Morrsion and photography by Harry Halcombe-James. We are so obsessed with Kudu Joy’s newest track “Fallout” and we know you will be too!
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Extraordinarily passionate and incredibly gifted singer-songwriter, Yirrmal has just released his back to back singles "Get Happy" and "Dhaliwuy Bay". Hailing from the Rirratjingu clan group in the remote North East Arnhem Land community of Yirrkala, his works share his joy of creating, re-telling and performing stories as old as time with a fresh, inspired and contemporary reflection.
Secure and comfortable in his own identity and belief, Yirrmal charts his own journey, “I want people to forget about their troubles for a while, to live in the moment and just enjoy this music.” Get Happy is a super fun toe-tapping lighthearted ditty about being happy and carefree, putting a smile on people's faces with not a care in the world. The tune is reminiscent and nostalgic of an uncomplicated, earlier time when things seemed simpler, people were content, and kids got dirty and climbed trees. We could all do with a bit of Get Happy in our lives considering what the Australian community has faced over the last few years! Dhaliwuy Bay is expressive of the thoughts of Yirrmal’s thoughts of his grandmother and grandfather, love and loss, and having space to acknowledge his inner feelings. An emotionally beautiful track, and a call to Yarmal’s loved ones. Yirrmal’s music expresses a powerfully instinctive and intuitive pledge that echoes and embraces buoyant courage and empathy, and he has plenty to say, sharpening his craft over the years from mentors such as Archie Roach, Shane Howard, Neil Murray, Yothu Yindi and Andrew Farriss. The record, produced by Andrew Farriss (INXS) and recorded by Studios 301 at Andrew’s Piedmont Studio, will be released later in 2022. Yirrmals tracks “Get Happy" and "Dhaliwuy Bay"are celebratory and timeless, capturing thoughts and feelings of what it means to be alive in a beautiful and ancient landscape. 
This week we are crushing on one of Australia’s most enthralling artists on the rise, Bri Clark and her latest single ‘Sinner’ accompanied by an exciting new album announcement!
Enveloping her impeccably agile voice, with a grind mentality and ardent outlook on songwriting and music, we can see how this is shown in Bri’s newest single ‘Sinner’ taken from her upcoming album ‘Waiting’, to be released on 17th June this year. Bri speaks on the track, explaining “It's about the justification of his shitty behaviour like if I could explain it away it kind of negates the hurt he caused? Hurt people hurt people, but I don't think it was fair to bleed all over me when I wasn't the one to cut him in the first place.“ Whilst each track encapsulates the turbulent healing process, Sinner exhibits the more aggrieved nature that Bri felt during that moment in time. The simultaneous soft and hard hitting notes of Bri’s hypnotic voice prove that her emotional experiences are worth following through her music as she invites the audience on her journey of highs and lows. Winning listeners' hearts with her relatability on the hardships of relationships, Bri’s divine expression of pain can teach us to appreciate and hold onto the beauty in those around us. Having been the first ever recipient of the APRA AMCOS Female Mentorship Program, Bri went on to become a mentor herself in 2021 for APRA’s SongGeneration Program and had four Vanda & Young shortlisted songs in the last three years. In the last year alone, 12 of Bri’s songs have been released by the likes of Dami Im, AYA YVES, and Sarah Saint James for her TikTok hit ‘Mad at God’. She’s also supported musicians such as Middle Kids, Ainslie Wills, Holy Holy, Ben Abraham, Clare Bowditch and Airling, and has headlined her own shows in Perth and Melbourne. We are loving the new track ‘Sinner’ and can’t wait for the album ‘Waiting’ to be released on June 17th this year! 
This week we are crushing on the gorgeous Lisa Mitchell and her highly anticipated fourth studio album “A Place To Fall Apart” that’s out today via Believe!
The album is a glorious and heartrending tribute to what it means to be alive and learning in the world, having been old enough to feel it's bruises and heartbreaks, but also be at the beginning of understanding our own individual insignificance within it. Accompanied by her beguiling melodies and hushed tones, the lyrics within the album are deeply introspective and impactful, written in the thick of the first year of a global pandemic that forced everyone’s lives and spheres to become very small and very still. Mitchell is noticeably finding ground in her natural progression, however remaining faithful to the fundamental sonics tied to her honored style. Speaking on A Place to Fall Apart, “This album is a place to fall apart in. Take this patchwork blanket of melancholic love stories between the human and beyond-human and pitch it as a tent, either inside your lounge-room, or out in the bush. Lie down and look up at the stories. There is someone watching fruit slowly ripen on a tree. There is a girl becoming a river. and another person who is falling in love and turning blue. There is a strange and beautiful noise from far away ancestral lands. a woman is relaxing in a bath-tub somewhere in suburbia. There is a word in the English language that is not needed in the Noongar language. two women sing to a Wollemi pine, summoning their inner knowing. There is a wrestling with ideas of identity and belonging, of tradition and innovation. There is a deep, cold, wide river with two names. The women are singing again and asking the spirits of the land to help them with this modern-mess. There is a girl in her happy place, sitting in an old apricot tree, alone but not lonely. she eats the sweet fruit, it is warm from the sun. On ‘A Place to Fall Apart’, you follow the intrepid journey of Lisa’s own unraveling. To unravel a thing doesn’t mean to destroy it or even to separate it into a million pieces. An unraveled object becomes a singular piece, stripped bare of the artificial shape and form it held before. Unraveling is the precursor to rebuilding, a transition that can and should be done intentionally. In this album, the listener can hear Mitchell’s attempts to be deliberate about her humanity and her choices. 
This week we are crushing on Australian Indie Rock favourites Dear Seattle, and their latest single “Feel The Weight,” a track revealed to fans via a special performance on their Youtube channel. This concept was also inspired by bands of the ’60s and ’70s who performed their music live instead of the traditional music video. Alongside the single release, the band announced details of their highly anticipated second album Someday, out June 17 via Domestic La La.
“Feel The Weight” is a middle finger to Dear Seattle's collective tendency for self-sabotage, something each of the band – completed by Brae Fisher, guitarist Lachlan Simpson, bassist Jeremy Baker and drummer Josh McKay – have grappled with. Punchy and memorable, “Feel The Weight” embodies the roller coaster-like journey each individual has endured in recognising their tendencies to internalise pressures, criticisms and negative thoughts before actively choosing to flush them out. In their words: "This song is a reminder that we can always use a brain cleanse. You can see a lot of joy in this world, and it’s much easier to see when you clean the lens you’re looking through." On top of the track’s dense lyrical themes, the music on Someday is just as uplifting and anthemic as ever. Dear Seattle have a knack for taking something personal and bringing it to the masses, and fans of previous releases will feel right at home amid the festival-ready and heart-on-your-sleeve sing-alongs stacked throughout this record. Someday, matched by the bittersweet sentiment behind its title and lyrics, as Brae shares: “It's aspirational and has this feeling of hope for being better someday,” he says of the album name. “But at the same time, it shines a light on how myself and the band have often caught ourselves living too much in the future “someday” and not enough in the present.” He adds: “The process of wading through your own struggles and crap is also bittersweet because you need to go through some really heavy stuff, but when you push through that you come out more aware, responsible and accountable for your habits and tendencies and ultimately feeling lighter and better on the other side.” We are absolutely loving the new track and we can’t wait for their album Someday, out June 17 via Domestic La La. 
This week we are crushing on Melbourne newcomer Fleur De Mur! She is an unapologetic soulful, nu-disco inspired alt-pop artist we need right now and her latest single Neither Am I is our latest obsession we just can't stop streaming.
Whilst there’s a gamut of influences ranging from pop, soul, RnB and nu-disco throughout Fleur’s funk-fuelled electronic fiber, it is the unrelenting catchiness of cleverly written hooks and a true powerhouse vocal that sets Fleur’s sonic landscape apart. Speaking on the track, Fleur De Mur said, “Neither Am I was born from an existential crisis I experienced where I questioned every detail of my perceived reality. I looked at someone I loved and was overcome with this deep sense of ‘oh you’re not really here. And if you’re not here then neither am I. And if I’m not here then none of this is real.’ I wanted to encapsulate this earth shattering, monumentally overwhelming sensation.” She continues, “Neither Am I is an ode to that eerie feeling of looking at yourself in the mirror and wondering who the consciousness is watching the reflection. And whilst questioning life’s meaning feels like a deeply personal lonesome experience, it’s part of being human so this song yearns to share in that affinity.” It is 2022 that Fleur has steadied sights on with the upcoming release of the ‘Metamor-for-this’ EP in June and accompanying National Australian tour. An artist in every sense of the word, Fleur creates new worlds on stage and in her song’s accompanying short films, weaving an intoxicating and mesmerizing visual language throughout her multifaceted releases to compliment the sonic. Speaking on the music video, Fleur says “Songs are opportunities for storytelling, and whilst the sonic language is always the driver, for me I also ‘see’ the song - so there’s almost as much importance placed on the visual component of my music’s capacity for storytelling. Inspired by Wes Anderson’s symmetry and pastel hues, I wanted to create a hyperreal world where time stood still, that left you disoriented and questioning what is real and what is imagined. Have you ever felt like you’re watching your own life? This clip encapsulates that unsettling feeling by challenging the notion of who the viewer actually is.” Fleur continues “My director and creative partner Jackson Gallagher and I stumbled upon a rundown retro roadside motel in regional Victoria who’s real-life inhabitants inspired the slew of colourful characters that drive the music video. We cast mostly locals to play the cameos - even getting a horse on board the team! The vignettes of me inhabiting each character’s clothes/environment poses the question - am I everyone or am I nobody? Warping reality and bending”. The single Neither Am I is pure heaven and the accompanying visuals are stunning, we can’t wait to see what Fleur does next! 
Lisa Mitchell is back with her gorgeous new track “Summoning” from her upcoming forth studio album on April 22nd and we couldn’t be more excited!
This is a piece that manages to be both wide reaching and transformative in its exploration of our heritage. A gentle track empowered by the timeless vocal coats laid bare by a radiant Mitchell, this song stands as an introduction to a sound evolution. Known for her beguiling melodies and hushed tones, Mitchell is finding ground in her natural progression, however remaining faithful to the fundamental sonics tied to her honored style. Summoning is like no other with smooth and soft strings accompanied by her wispy vocals. The upcoming album and track “Summoning” touches on waking up to the depth of culture all around Mitchell as a non-Indigenous person, and realising the deeper layers of what it means to live in so-called Australia. Speaking on Summoning Lisa said, ‘There are secrets in this Wollemi pine.’ The other voice on this recording is that of Jess Hitchcock, a singer-songwriter with family origins from the Torres Strait Islands and Papua New Guinea. We both find great connection and meaning in our ancestry, and so it is not surprising that we wrote this song in only one day! The song begins with us singing to the oldest trees in the continent, the Wollemi pines, ( only discovered ten years ago in the Blue Mountains, after being presumed extinct!) asking them for answers to our modern problems. It moves between a love-song and a conversation with the spirits of the land. We summon our inner knowing, and we call upon the wisdom of the land to help us find our way through this modern mess. Part love-song, part remembering of inner wisdom, and the support that is available from the land. Mitchell’s fourth album A Place To Fall Apart to be released April 22 is anticipated to be a glorious and heartrending tribute to what it means to be alive and learning in the world, having been old enough to feel it's bruises and heartbreaks, but also be at the beginning of understanding our own individual insignificance within it. The lyrics within the album are deeply introspective and impactful, written in the thick of the first year of a global pandemic that forced everyone’s lives and spheres to become very small and very still. We’re loving the new track and couldn't be more excited for the album release! 
This week we are crushing on Josh Needs as he releases his latest track "Fault Line", the lead song from his upcoming EP release set for later this year.
The track takes us on a progressively emotional journey, combining the acoustic guitar with electric resonance and husky vocals as we’re embarked on a magical journey through intertwining sounds. The song reaches its pinnacle towards the bridge, transcending into energetic waters. Powerful drums dominate Fault Line, giving it that extra kick. Josh maintained the visual of “Natural Disaster'' throughout writing and producing the single, and his track “Rumbly” had further influence in the song-making process, retaining a “quaky feel to it.” The track blesses the audience by burying a thunder sample in the bridge, symbolising worlds colliding. Josh explained “I wanted to take a melodic approach when writing the solo. Too much flash in this instrumental section would have distracted from the energy and emotion of the song.” The EP effortlessly flows into delicate seas as we hear dreamy strumming on the strings as opposed to hard hitting and heavy instrumentals, due to Josh suffering a fracture on his right radius while skateboarding halfway through creating the EP. This resulted in him being homebound for six weeks, unable to delve into his creative outlet. Josh Needs’ career highlights have already included collaborations with some of the greatest names in Australian music. Bringing his incredible stage presence to such festivals as Australia’s Woodford, Blues On Broadbeach, Airlie Beach Music Festival, Tamworth, and an unforgettable appearance at the iconic Sydney Opera House. Josh has also toured and shared the stage with the likes of Diesel, Russell Morris, Jon Stevens, Tommy & Phil Emmanuel, Kevin Borich and recently supported Ian Moss and The Animals (UK). Josh’s mind blowing talent is hard to ignore with his unique sound, as he encourages the audience to step into his world of passion and intense emotion. “Fault Line” is an immediately memorable song that reminds us of the beautiful nature of our community, particularly during the trying times and chaos that was the last few years. The track shows promise for the EP and we couldn't be more enthralled for its release.  This week multi instrumentalist Jarryd James announced his long awaited return to one of Sydney’s most beloved and intimate venues, the Metro Theatre, in a not-to-be-missed, one night only live performance presented by Vivid Sydney and Create NSW on Friday 3rd of June, 2022.
For Jarryd’s first headline show in Sydney in five years, he will be performing a one off album playthrough with intricate visuals and surround sound experience for Vivid Sydney. Joining Jarryd on the night will be Sydney artists Liyah Knight and Boy Soda. Singer songwriter Liyah Knight blends alternative RnB, Pop and folk tones. Performing tracks from her latest six track release ‘Travellers Guide’, Liyah pours her heart out through her evocative stage presence. Boy Soda will also taking us on a journey through his funk-driven and hazy melodies as he pushes boundaries through intertwining genres. Boy Soda has been propelled into the spotlight after the success of recent singles “BIG” and “WELCOME TO THE GLOW UP,” showcasing his smooth vocals, driven through cutting edge and innovative hip hop and RnB. To date, Jarryd’s had more than 480-million streams, an ARIA top 5 album and two multi-platinum selling singles, with his break-out single ‘Do You Remember’ the 4th most Shazamed song in Australia for the past decade. We’re so excited for this incredible gig after the year we’ve had and we hope to see you there! FRIDAY 18TH MARCH @ METRO THEATRE SYDNEY TICKETS HERE Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 am, Wednesday 16th March. Jarryd James’ Album P.M. is available in limited-edition pink vinyl format from here. Stream P.M. on all platforms here. |
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