Let's start with a little personal intro. Tell me about your musical journey. 

I’ve been writing, recording and releasing music for about fourteen years. I grew up in a musical family - my parents met playing in bands and my Nana played piano in a jazz quartet - so singing was always a big part of my life. But I didn’t really start focusing on my music career until I was in my mid-20s. I was living in London – working a corporate reception job, partying and travelling – but I had this lightbulb moment, and realised that if I didn’t really start focusing on what I really wanted to do, that it’d be too easy to get stuck where I was. So, I booked a ticket home a few months later, reconnected with my musician friends and started gigging with gusto. 

Tell me a little about your new single, Find Your Way Back, and how it fits in with your existing discography. 

My first album came out in 2010 and it had a 60s-pop-inspired ‘wall-of-sound’ vibe. Think Pet Sounds via early career Sarah Blasko. Around that time I had assembled my ‘mini-indie-orchestra’: an 11-ish-member group featuring strings, brass, woodwind, harp, vibraphone, and band. It was a very “more is more” era for me, haha. And I absolutely loved the buzz of writing for and playing with a large ensemble. 

My second album Astral Debris came out in 2016, and was created in a much more insular way, with electronic artist Tim Shiel. I was heavily pregnant during recording, so we tracked a lot of vocals in my home. I’d send Tim ideas and things I was working on, and he’d augment and embellish or sometimes create brand new bed-tracks from my demos. It was a completely different way of working, but I loved expanding my creative horizons in that way and Tim is a genius. 

Find Your Way Back is the first single from my forthcoming third album. It’s an ode to the lost places of childhood; about searching for somewhere to belong. It also marks my first collaboration with drummer and producer Josh Barber, who is producing the album. When Josh and I met up early on to make plans, we knew Find Your Way Back needed a backbone of kinetic group energy, so we tracked his drums live with bassist Jules Pascoe (Jazz Party; Husky). Then had a lot of fun mucking around with vintage keyboards and tape sounds. We also got super lucky between lockdowns and managed to wrangle a group of beautiful Melbourne singers into the studio for a big vocal moment in the bridge. 

The visuals for the track have a colour-heavy sketchbook feel to them. What was the process of creating the video clip like? 

This is actually the tenth music video I've made with filmmaker Rohan Spong, and when he pitched this idea even I was a bit wary. “Rohan, you're saying it's going to look like I've been drawn into a sketch book? And there's going to be a house on fire? And a speeding car? Rohan... Are you okay?”. But I'm so glad I trusted him! 

At the time, Melbourne was in hard lockdown. I filmed all my parts on my iPhone, standing in front of a “blue screen” (which was actually just a blue bedsheet I’d ordered from Spotlight in a last- minute click-and-collect). I fashioned a makeshift tripod out of a tower of books and some Blu Tack. After filming each take, I texted the footage to Rohan, and he texted me back with “director notes”. It was pretty weird filming my performances in complete isolation to Rohan — essentially, making a video over text – but I think it worked because of his strong vision for it, and our friendship. 

Something special happens when I hand one of my songs over to Rohan – not only does he just get it, he also imagines things that I wouldn't otherwise have seen, and his visualisations of my music always reveal a deeper understanding of my own songs to me. I feel really lucky to have developed this long-term creative relationship with such a multi-talented (and very fucking funny!) human. 

Find Your Way Back is one of the first singles from your new album, Hiareth. Sonically, what can we expect from this album? 

In many ways, this new album heralds a return to a more organic palette – perhaps somewhat similar to my first album (with the drums and bass tracked live) but with much more space. The album title Hiraeth (pronounced “hee-raith”) refers to a Welsh word with no direct English translation: a profound longing for a home you can't return to, as it doesn't exist anymore. So as well as the raw textures of my electric guitar, piano and band, there are more ethereal and experimental sounds that represent the liminal nature of ‘hiraeth’. Josh and I are still working on the album, so it’s evolving, it’s taking shape before our eyes. 

What's your opinion on the current music scene in Naarm, from your perspective as an independent female artist? 

It’s so broad, so diverse, so alive and constantly changing that it would be impossible for me to summarise – and that’s a good thing. I’ve been in the industry for a decade and a half and I am constantly inspired by the talent and innovation coming up around me, often I feel like a tiny speck in an infinite ocean of amazing music. I will say that discrimination and abusive behaviour is being called out so much more than it was when I was starting out. It’s awesome. 

Who do you look up to most in the industry? 

My good friend Phia is a singer-songwriter, live-looping artist, entrepreneur, community-builder and mother and she also runs the choir Melbourne Indie Voices. I admire Phia so much for her positive energy and uncanny ability to bring people together. She has a very no-nonsense, DIY approach to getting things done, but is also very ambitious and isn’t afraid to dream big. I feel really lucky to have such a rad friend in my corner. 

Aside from the album, what's next for you? 

I’m planning a live collaboration with a neo-classical ensemble in early 2022, although it’s still very much in the early stages so I can’t say much! And once touring seems viable again, I can’t wait to get on the road and re-connect with my audiences interstate.