HELEN SHANAHAN ANNOUNCES NEW SINGLE, ACROSS THE SEA, NEW EP, FINDING GOLD & NATIONAL TOUR DATES
Having hit the ground running after winning Songwriter of The Year at Telstra Road to Discovery, Perth acoustic folk artist, Helen Shanahan has announced the release of her new single, Across The Sea (June 12) lifted from her third EP, Finding Gold, set for release on July 3. The story telling performer will celebrate her new releases with shows at Mojo’s in Fremantle on July 9, The Newsagency in Sydney on July 14 and The Spotted Mallard in Melbourne on July 17.
First single, Across The Sea is inspired by Helen’s personal struggle with anxiety and her day to day challenges of feeling overwhelmed and trying to overcome these hurdles. “The song is calling out for someone to help guide me through the times of hardship,” Helen explains. Helen’s warm, lush vocal is perfectly complemented by nostalgic slide guitar that is dappled throughout the song, showcasing the delicacy of this poetic, uplifting folk country work of art.
Reflective of the song’s metaphor, the clip for Across The Sea takes the viewer through different landscapes of Helen’s journey, making her way through a forest and finally ending up at the sea. ‘Can’t cross the water on my own, so who will build a ship for me, who will help me, across the sea,’ Helen sings. The stunning clip was shot and directed by local Perth filmmaker Brendan Joel (Sam Perry, Jacob Diamond, Rainy Day Women) on location at the picturesque Cape Peron in WA.
Recorded across Melbourne, Nashville and Perth, Helen’s new EP, Finding Gold was produced by AIR and APRA winner Pip Norman (Dan Sultan, Ash Grunwald, Daniel Merriweather), with the exception of Love Lost, which was produced by Neilson Hubbard in Nashville. Offering hope to listeners, Helen says, “The main message throughout the EP is that you can still find moments of calm or ‘gold’ in everyday life.”
Excited to perform her new music live around the country, Helen says, “Although I still feel a lot of nerves and anxiety about performing and sharing my music, the love of it keeps me going, and I love the feeling of connecting with the audience and sharing my stories.”
HELEN SHANAHAN SHOWS
THURS 9 JULY| MOJO’S BAR, FREMANTLE WA | 18+
Tickets available at the door, 237 Queen Victoria Street North Fremantle
TUES 14 JULY | THE NEWSAGENCY, MARRICKVILLE NSW | 18+
Tickets available at the door, or www.thenewsagencyvenue.com
FRIDAY 17 JULY| THE SPOTTED MALLARD, BRUNSWICK VIC | 18+
Tickets available at the door, or www.spottedmallard.com
JOSH PYKE ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM, ‘BUT FOR ALL THESE SHRINKING HEARTS’ AVAILABLE JULY 31, ALONGSIDE FANS-FIRST ALBUM PRE-ORDERS
After months of teasing fans with snippets of new material, Josh Pyke today announced the release of his fifth studio album, But For All These Shrinking Hearts available on July 31. Pyke gave his fans the first real taste of the album this morning, circulating a fans-first video across his social media accounts for album track, There’s A Line, alongside a live link to pre-order the new album.
Always looking out for his fans, Pyke has also released an extremely limited number of fans-first album pre-order packages comprising the deluxe edition of the new record featuring two exclusive tracks, a collectors lyric magnet set and a ticket to one of his intimate fans first shows in Sydney at The Soda Factory on July 29, Melbourne at Bella Union on August 5, Adelaide at Grace Emily on August 6 and Brisbane at The Foundry on August 12. These shows will not be ticketed and are only available to those who pre-order the But For All These Shrinking Hearts package.
“I’ve loved doing the fans-first gigs in the past, and this round is no different, so make sure you sign up to my mailing list for first dibs on those tix at www.joshpyke.com,” explains Pyke.
Honouring his fans by sharing the title and release date of his anticipated new album, and a fans-first video via social media channels, Pyke said, “Writing and making this record has been one of the most pleasurable and creatively challenging things I’ve done, and I bloody well love the end result. After the making of the record, it’s pretty much up to you guys whether it travels and is shared and becomes part of peoples lives, so please share the news, the music, your thoughts. As always I owe any kind of continued success to you all, so thank you!”
The first official single, Hollering Hearts will be serviced to media on June 8.
Fans can pre-order the new album from today from http://www.joshpyke.com/store/
AUSSIE POP STARLET, MONTAIGNE RELEASES LIVE VIDEO
Off the back of her acclaimed debut EP, Life Of Montaigne and anticipated, sold out national headline tour in April, whimsical Aussie pop starlet, Montaigne has released a new live video for EP track, A Cinematic Plea For An End.
Montaigne, also known as Jess Cerro, showcases her exquisite songwriting ability, luring the listener in to her vast musical dreamscape with her intrepid song, A Cinematic Plea For An End. Beginning with a raw, vulnerable vocal and impeccably understated instrumentation, the song builds in to a work of art, bounding with fury and defiance, captured perfectly in the live setting that this video was recorded in.
The live video and audio recording for A Cinematic Plea for An End was filmed and produced by Masses Collective (Hungry Kids of Hungary, Something With Numbers, Ball Park Music), with audio recorded and mixed by Adrian Breakspear, and shot on the Sydney leg of Montaigne’s recent sold out headline tour at Brighton Up Bar.
“Cinematic the song basically expresses several issues with idealism, both in platonic and romantic relationships,” explains Montaigne. “It is pretty much a letter to myself which is me trying to ensure that I don’t create unreasonable and idealistic expectations of situations and relationships, so that I don’t hurt myself nor others.”
A regular on the national touring circuit, Montaigne was included in the line up at Groovin The Moo (Canberra), has recently supported Megan Washington and San Cisco, and is set to perform at Come Together Festival and open the Japanese Wallpaper national tour. “I love performing, I love the thrill of it, the challenge, the risk, and the result when you pull it off. And I just love singing. I always do it, and when I’m performing on stage I get to do it in a grander setting and on a grander scale. I also really love meeting fans. They’re always really lovely, very affirming, very effusive, which I like in a person,“ enthuses Montaigne.
And if you didn’t catch a show around the country, it’s likely you’d have heard her on Triple J, with recent singles, I’m A Fantastic Wreck and I Am Not An End both spun on high rotation. The video for Montaigne’s Sia Chandelier cover performed for Triple J’s Like A Version has now had over two hundred thousand views. Silverchair’s Straight Lines was the second song option, Montaigne clarifies, “I figured Straight Lines is already perfect the way it is and if one were to do it any other way, it wouldn’t be me doing it because I can’t envision it sounding any other way. Chandelier felt right because of the vocal of the song. I like pushing my limits a bit with vocals, and that song was perfect.”