Hatchie—aka Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Harriette Pilbeam—continues the rollout of her acclaimed third album, Liquorice, with ‘Carousel’, an album-defining track that captures the emotional tension at the heart of her songwriting. Built on layers of chorus-drenched guitars and a slow, enveloping sense of momentum, ‘Carousel’ explores themes of fixation, longing and emotional suspension that run throughout Liquorice.
This May, catch a transportive dream-pop set at Hatchie’s Sydney headline show on May 3rd at The Vanguard, as part of The Great Southern Nights 2026.
a bittersweet offering
Hatchie on her newest album Liquorice
Liquorice, 2025
Sweet, salty, and bitter all in one bite, Liquorice, is Hatchie aka Hariette Pilbeam’s, third album created upon return from LA to the home soil of Brisbane and now Melbourne. For Hatchie, it’s a joyfully undone album that celebrates a reconnection with self and the self-discovery of young womanhood.
Liquorice is an ode to love - an eternal inspiration - and the beautiful pain of it all.
Harriette Pilbeam spoke with Joella Marcus.
How have the last 6 months been since the release of Liquorice?
They've been good. Liquorice has been different from my previous album releases because I took things slower and have had a better balance between my music and the rest of my life. We've also given people a chance to get to know the album before we go on tour which means the live shows are extra rewarding and there is more of an audience connection as everyone is already familiar with the songs. It's been a slow unraveling…and I really enjoyed it.
Having grown into the third album, with nearly a decade of the Hatchie project, how does Liquorice stand apart from Sugar & Spice, Keepsake and Giving The World Away?
With the second album, Giving The World Away, in particular, I got really caught up in what I thought other people wanted to hear, what I thought would be the most impressive and what would be the most memorable for the audience. That was really fun in its own way, but it meant that I got to the end of it thinking that it wasn't as fulfilling as when I made music purely for more enjoyment. This time I know that I fully did it the way that I wanted to, so I have zero regrets, regardless of how anyone else interprets or receives it.
The naming ‘Liquorice’, a bittersweet offering, a candy of interwoven dualities; sweet, salty and bitter all at once, why was this visceral name chosen and how does it reflect on the album?
Exactly what you just said. Initially, I just really liked the word and wanted a word that felt good to say. In Liquorice, I wrote all about the ‘Liquorice Kiss’, and liked that it immediately brings a particular taste – it can be sweet, it can be savoury, salty or chewy, or an image to mind - the twist and the deep black or a very beautiful, rich red. It felt really appropriate for the album. Initially, I was also looking for a more interesting way to describe a French kiss and it blossomed into a Liquorice one.
It does away with that really overly sweet notion of a French kiss and seems more true to what love is. You can't have this sugar coated version all the time.
Sydney Morning Herald said “[Liquorice is a] love letter to love itself” and the album has a welcoming approach to the sadness and melancholy of love, not lamenting but instead celebrating the joys and lows of longing and loving. What shaped such an honest approach?
A lot of time to reflect. Having been in a relationship for more than a decade I've really seen so many different sides of love; there are lots of highs but the lows can be really low. It's important to highlight all elements of love because it's multifaceted and you never stop learning about it. It never stops changing and growing so there'll always be something to write about love. With my last album, I put a lot of pressure on myself to write about things other than love because I felt like I owed it to myself and to my female listeners but this time I still had so much more to say about the subject, so I went in and went with it.
Photography by Bianca Edwards
Even though you are a self-proclaimed hopeless romantic and approached this album with newfound maturity, does it ever feel too intimate to re-open heartbreak?
Yes, absolutely. There are definitely some things that, at least at this point, are still off limits. My songs can sound very intimate and personal but I've only really scratched the surface and written about 30% of how I feel. It's important for me to keep certain things private, and for my husband as well. I could go on forever about all the different layers.
Within Hatchie, you also produce, co-write and play live with your husband Joe Agius, how is it to work with a creative and romantic partner?
It's great. It's hard at times because we are so close but it works for us. We've learned how to make it work over the years and we've had to really figure out what we want. We've had phases where we've had to put our relationship first and others where we've put the project first. The main thing for us is we really communicate everything and that's why we work so well together. We are very honest with each other.
The main reason we started working together was because we had the same taste. Joe really understood what I wanted the project to sound like and, at the beginning, I was really dependent on him. As the project's grown it's become more of a choice to work together because we love doing it and it’s grown into a really beautiful creative endeavour, rather than codependency.
Love’s power as an act of invention, the way certain people draw out a version of you that didn’t exist before they arrived. What does your relationship with Joe afford the Hatchie project?
I've barely collaborated with anyone on the project other than Joe because when I do try I always end up going back to Joe. He's the only one who really understands what I'm going for creatively. In terms of what I write about, I had a lot of little mini relationships before I met Joe, and there's still so much to write about, even when you're married. I have a very active imagination, so that helps too.
The cover design of that smudged lip, mid laugh, post kiss haze really encapsulates that joie de vivre, the cheerful enjoyment of daily life and living with passion. What inspiration did you reference for the cover shot?
Initially, I didn't want it to be a portrait because album artworks often turn into press photos. I felt bored by that. Stepping away from the editorial photos, Joe and I referenced a lot of magazine covers such as iD, The Face and old 90s or early 2000s covers, including a few Kate Moss photos where she's giggling, laughing or throwing her head back. I also really loved alternative album artworks such as Kylie Minogue’s cover for Breathe. It's just her face and it's really sparkly and looks like a Vaseline image. I love the simplicity of those pictures and how much they evoke joy, which I wanted to focus on with this album – the lighter, busier and effervescent side of love. It was fresh, fun and in the moment.
“My songs can sound very intimate and personal but I've only really scratched the surface and written about 30% of how I feel.”
Breathe - Kylie Minogue, 1998
In contrast to the joy of the cover, many tragic romances influenced this album such as the Umbrellas of Cherbourg which deals with the inevitability of heartbreak. As a film lover, how did your cinematic mindset influence Liquorice?
I felt really inspired by Jean-Luc Goddard movies while I was writing this album. His running gun style of working with what you've got and filming whatever you can, whenever you can, with whoever you can. I loved the DIY nature of those movies, and the fact that he was very hands on himself. The way he edited or cut movies was due to lack of funds or lack of experience and I really tried to apply that with this album, and just work with my abilities, rather than feeling like I had to constantly improve, or introduce new instruments and concepts and sounds. Your limitations can really lend themselves to something really interesting and organic and I was really happy with how that ended up; the songs are so simple and they're a lot easier to pull off live which allowed me to have a lot more fun and relax.
Many of the films referenced don’t have that fairy tale romance ending, which feels mirrored in your album arc ending on Stuck, almost at the ‘fall’ of the romance plot before the grand declaration and happily ever after. Was that intentional in the track listing, or was that a natural end for you?
I put ‘Stuck’ last because even though ultimately it is sad being stuck it was a more light hearted way to end the album with someone accepting their recurring dreams and just going with it. It's almost fun to end and just think ‘hey, here we are. This is me now. This is my life’. I’m just trying to lighten the mood.
Another reference was the Before Sunset trilogy and what always stuck out to me about those films was how it displays the profound power of conversation and letting time play out by allowing room to breathe. With this album as well, you simplified your life, made it more sustainable and you let things play out. How did it feel to give your songwriting breathing space? Love nor songwriting can emerge from a forced hand.
Good. It was definitely scary because I was in such a habit. The last album we made during lockdown so we could work on it non stop, day after day, overworking songs and hammering them down into what I thought was their best final form. This time, I tried to force myself to put a pause on songs that I had felt I had worked on for a few days in a row, and go work on something else or take a break. Let it breathe for a week. That was scary because I was worried that I would forget where I was going with things when I really listened to them, or not be able to get back into the groove of them. It was the ultimate test to see which songs would stand the test of time and which songs spoke for themselves and deserved to endure . It also meant that I didn't even need to trim the fat off the album because I wasn't overdoing it. The album's quite short in comparison to a lot of albums, and I just wanted there to be the best of the best songs. I didn't want there to be any filler. It means that every song is my favourite, and I didn't overdo it.
Photography by Bianca Edwards
You began writing in 2022/23 in Brisbane. Were you writing from a point of retrospection on obsessive love, crushes, dreams and young womanhood? Were you looking at different times in your life? Was this something that still felt quite current to you?
It was retrospective – I was really mulling things over from previous relationships and from earlier times in my relationship. I was also inspired by movies that I was watching at that present moment. I'm someone who has a natural inclination to obsessing, yearning and going over things over and over again. It really lends itself to lots of songs about heartbreak, I guess.
Even though you are speaking about heartbreak and intimacy, you seem to have this self awareness throughout; leaning in but not getting completely lost in love.
The films you reference also have a fierce dedication to the female gaze, especially with Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, with a focus on intimacy, understanding and a deeper self-awareness. Was this a conscious decision to focus on the female pov? Bringing in female producers and so on.
It was a conscious decision to consider producers who weren't just white males but other than that, I was just writing what naturally came to me. I'm just very in touch with that side of myself and point of view. I have a lot of really good, incredible female friendships, and I'm very close with the women around me. That helps as well in being able to understand your emotions and having those friends to vent to and analyse. It was mainly just what came natural to me.
Thank you for such an enjoyable interview.
1. If you could re-score or soundtrack a tragic romcom of your own, which would you choose? Before Sunrise.
2. Ethan Hawke recently said “The one who’s in love always wins”. Do you agree?
I understand what he's saying, and I love Ethan Hawke, because he does have some really great opinions on love and life, but I don't know if I agree with that one. Being in love can be fucking hell. I've had times in my life when I was younger where I wished I could make these feelings go away, even when it's a crush and not necessarily love. I've been like “Oh my God, I wish I could extract this emotion from my life”. From my personal experience, I don't think I can say I agree, but I love that he said that.
3. Essential tracks for when you have a crush?
Lorelei - Cocteau Twins That song, particularly because you can't necessarily understand the lyrics. I feel like it just evokes the feeling of falling in love. Also, I discovered the Cocteau Twins through that Lorelei on a playlist that my now husband made, so that's a really special memory for me.
Kinky Love - Pale Saints Feels like having a crush.
Archie, Marry Me - Alvvays
4. What is a liquorice kiss?
A liquorice kiss is a late night French kiss.