GEORGIA FLOOD SHARES NEW SINGLE ‘BLUE HONEY’
Floating with ethereal sensuality and lush electronic pop, the brand new single Blue Honey out today from Australian singer-songwriter and actress Georgia Flood silkily captures the gamut of anxiety with glassy and polished affability.
Following on from Georgia Flood’s country-dipped debut single Cowboy earlier this year, Blue Honey seamlessly embodies its cool and oozing namesake while also mingling Flood’s formative musical loves and eclectic inspirations, as she explains, “There isn’t a clear influence for Blue Honey, even when I sent a reference playlist to my producer Matt Curtin, it was a very diverse list, artists including, Alannah Myles, Fred Again, Róisín Murphy, and Lucinda Williams. This was the challenge of Blue Honey, I couldn’t really find anything that would describe what I wanted to create. My loves are electronic music, pop and country, and with this track we tried to make a blend.”
Teaming up with producer Matt Curtin, who also took on mixing and mastering duties for Blue Honey, Flood welds her crystalline vocals across palpitating, humid beats, ambient instrumentation and hauntingly sensual melodics. But beneath the after-dark pop sensibilities, Blue Honey also powerfully displays the realities of anxiety beyond the stereotypical traits, with Georgia Flood’s own creative identity firmly at the wheel. “Blue Honey is about the experience of anxiety,” reveals Georgia Flood of her latest sonic outing. “As an artist, I would have to say I have a caring, messy, 17-tabs-open-at-once-mindset, and loud…but also sometimes really quiet”. And it’s these multi-faceted attributes that effortlessly bolster Blue Honey alongside its sleek production and Georgia Flood’s sharp lyricism, declaring: “She keeps the lights on at night / So they won’t try / Take a look / Or go inside / Her colourful mind.”
Starting her musical journey at a young age, taking up the piano, violin and singing as a child, Georgia Flood was raised by her parents on a musical diet of classical music, K.D. Lang, Van Morrison and Shania Twain. Carrying her early passion into her teens, Georgia Flood soon delved into electronic music, before picking up the guitar at the age of 14 and discovering the music software Reason via her high school music teacher; and the rest, as they say, was history. Also an established and accomplished actress, making her onstage debut with the Melbourne Theatre Company before going on to appear on House Husbands, Wentworth and American Princess, Georgia Flood will next be seen on screens worldwide in the Disney+ TV series Nautilus, due out in December this year.
Previously garnering praise for her polished and modern take on the country pop realms, Georgia Flood’s musical journey continues to unfold in compelling and stylistically expanded fashion, and Blue Honey is another beautiful piece of the Georgia Flood creative puzzle unfurling in 2023. And, as Georgia Flood concludes, her relatable-yet-glossy creations bring tangible art to life; a fact inspired by the late great Carrie Fisher herself: “There’s this amazing line from a film written by Carrie Fisher called, Post Cards from the Edge, where Meryl Streep says to Gene Hackman “I don’t want life to imitate art, I want life to be art.”. I’ve always loved that quote. That pretty much sums up what I’m about.”
Blue Honey is out today, Thursday July 20.
EMILY VICTORIA SHARES DREAMY NEW SINGLE + VIDEO ‘MEMORISE’
An undulating ode to the shifting of time, memory and the world around us, Melbourne singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Emily Victoria returns today with a sublime new dream pop-laced single Memorise, also accompanied by an exquisitely filmed and edited photobook-inspired music video.
Expansive, dreamy and magnetically heartfelt, Memorise finds Emily drawing inspiration from a range of specific artists and songs, including Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy, Acopia’s Holding On, Purient’s WBWU, and City Moon’s Love Spirals Downwards. A lush dreamy pop universe steeped with moments of soft melodics, warm fuzz and angelic synths, the journey to the ultimate release of Memorise was also deeply shaped by the impact of time on memories, reflected by the ever-changing seasons themselves, as Emily elaborates, “Memorise is about time passing and the seasons changing. As we move forward , memories are distant…how consistent are visions of an event that occurred many years ago? What images are we reflecting on? And it’s also about nature following a cyclic progression. My intention was to compose a song that resembled a cycle structurally. There are no defined sections, the verse unfolds into the chorus and then the chorus concludes sooner than anticipated and the beginning of the idea surfaces again (round and round). Like a clock. Every time the cycle recommences , new paths are explored thus new lyrics, instrumental layers and additions surface. Like memories, culminating in new layers of thought, connections made, ideas appear.”
Produced by Nao Anzai and Lewis Moody and Gareth Thomson (vocal production) and mastering by Seb Moomin, with additional instrumentation provided by Anthony Farrugia, Jacob Long, Lewis Moody and Sam Clarke, Memorise also vividly comes to life via its accompanying music video. Directed by Brendan Schoenmaker alongside a stellar team, the clip captures the visualisation of memory itself, with inspiration taken from photobooks as well as the work of Alexandra Savior and films A Ghost Story and Bones. From filming at 5am on beaches earlier this year to careful colour consideration, the clip seamlessly links to Emily’s sharp lyricism and the track’s overarching dream-like state, as Brendan explains, “The video explores the haunting ability of memories as well as its fleeting and corruptible nature. The concept is built off the idea that memory is constantly being rewritten with every recall leaving us with the gist of something faded.” Offering further insight, Emily notes, “In the clip, an individual visits some of their memories – images of them in a red dress (a lively colour resembling life), wandering lonely landscapes. The occasional appearance of a mannequin blurs the lines between individual and mannequin.”
Marking Emily’s second release following her most recent single Humming Heart, which has been streamed over 300,000 times, went to #1 in Latvia and was selected as Brag Media’s feature video of the week upon release earlier this year, Memorise is a matured and exceedingly polished addition to the Emily Victoria burgeoning repertoire. An accomplished vocalist, cellist, guitarist and pianist, Emily’s creative pursuits to date has seen her awarded an AMRAP Women In Music mentorship, currently mentoring under Chrissie Vincent, as well as multiple projects and performances in her wake since 2013, including performing with her high school band My Tree Origin launching an experimental jazz quartet, releasing an EP The Creature You Are in 2018, and harnessing her dream pop prowess as of 2020 under the moniker Emily Victoria. From studying classical cello in her youth to now spreading her creative wings further than ever, Memorise is a delectable continuation as much as it has been a pivotal juncture to future endeavours, as Emily concludes, “I am so in love with this song. From writing the lyrics on Chapel Street a few years ago to shooting the video clip at 5am at Emerald Beach NSW earlier this year, Memorise has taught me so much and taken me on a journey. There has been so much growth.”
Memorise is out today, Tuesday July 11.
JORDAN WILSON SHARES NEW SINGLE + VIDEO ‘TERMINALS’
The sonic equivalent of entering a dream world, the new single Terminals, the latest outing from Sydney singer-songwriter Jordan Wilson, murmurs and charms with otherworldly delights. Inspired by a cultural reset, Leonard Cohen and some well-timed real life absurdity, Terminals is also today accompanied by the release of a captivating and potent music video. And Jordan Wilson fans can also catch him performing the new single and many other musical delights alongside Motion Sickness at The Chippo Hotel in Sydney on Thursday 24 November and The Old Bar in Melbourne on Wednesday 7 December.
A fluid, intimate and atmospheric dive into Jordan’s heady musical world, Terminals marks the second single from Jordan’s solo endeavours, following on from the melancholic and delectably gripping 2021 track Totem. Boasting glimmering soundscapes, lush melodics and languid intensity, Terminals charms in its abstract yet approachable creative universe, as if Thom Yorke, Nick Cave and Agnes Obel were billowing through a dream accompanied by Jordan’s ever-emboldened stylings. Also inspired by Jordan’s own personal juxtaposition experienced after returning from living in Europe and being on a jobsite back home, Terminals grew from a moment of absurdity into something with much deeper meaning, as Jordan explains, “Terminals was written after I had just gotten back from a stint living in Europe. I was a bit down and lost so my father corralled me in to coming to work for him. My body was in shock from going from sipping lattes on the Parisian streets to digging holes in the Australian suburbs. I overheard one of the other workers at lunch after going to the toilet: “You know mate, no matter how hard I shake it, there’s always two drops left”. I was eating lunch by myself, but it made me laugh out loud on the spot. Something about the absurdity of it all brought me back to earth and I was able to start writing again. That line means something else to me now, but it helps me to appreciate the many situations that life can throw you in.”
Working with Daniel Lee Kendall on Terminals, with Daniel co-producing and mixing, the sublime new track was mixed by William Bowden, while its equally mesmerising accompanying music video was brought to life by frequent Jordan collaborator Odin Umeofia as well as Jordan’s brother and fellow artist Lavrence. Featuring Jordan and his partner Maia Marsh, the clip ultimately embodies the notions of transformation and uncertainties, frequently flipping the watcher in and beyond the physical lighthouse, with the fanciful lyrical and ambient music coating proceedings. Devised by Jordan himself alongside his team, the end result draws you deeper into the Terminals narrative while, overall, blending hope with the unknown. “I came up with the concept of this clip alongside my collaborator Odin Umeofia and my brother Lavrence always helps as well,” shares Jordan of the Terminals music video. “My partner Maia Marsh who plays under her own name and a band called Motion Sickness features in it with me. It’s set at/in a lighthouse which represents the Terminal or house of transformation. It’s a powerful image as it sits on the coast as an isolated figure and calls out to the great unknown, guiding ghostly ships to shore. The clip cuts from ‘inside’ the lighthouse to out. I wanted the inner world to be freaky and spoofy to represent the underworld of the psyche and have that release of the outside shots culminating in the final lines of the song, ‘We know the way out’.”
An artist, songwriter and performer already firmly established for his work with indie duo Georgia Fair, Jordan has been steadily evolving his own solo creative works, with a debut solo album building on the horizon following the release of his debut solo single Totem and its follow up Terminals. Signing a major label deal at the age of 21, Jordan has previously landed two albums in the Top 100 ARIA charts, lived and recorded in Australia, Europe and America, and has previously toured and performed alongside the likes of John Mayer, Paul Kelly and Kate Miller-Heidke. Also recently publishing his first ever book last year, a collection of short stories and poems Some Short, Some Long, Jordan is set to weave more musical and creative magic beyond 2022; but there’s still plenty of magic left as the year draws to a close, including some live shows on the cards set to showcase even more Jordan’s solo work up close and personal, as Jordan concludes, “I think I’ll be going out as a duo for this run of shows. I’m still writing the album and trying songs out on the audience, so it’s nice to show them bare bones to really get down to the core of the message and see what comes across and what doesn’t.”
Terminals is out today, Friday November 18.
JORDAN WILSON – UPCOMING TOUR DATES:
THURS 24 NOV | THE CHIPPO HOTEL, CHIPPENDALE NSW
Supporting Motion Sickness
WED 7 DEC | THE OLD BAR, FITZROY VIC
Supporting Motion Sickness