JEBEDIAH SHARE NEW SINGLE + VIDEO ‘MOTIVATION’ + NEW ALBUM OIKS DUE OUT APRIL 12
A revitalising sonic spark, the upbeat new single Motivation from beloved Perth rockers Jebediah follows on from the group’s dreamy indie single Rubberman, with Motivation unfurling cleverly simple melodics fused with Jebediah’s hard-wired charm. Also accompanied by a new music video that snapshots the band in their natural element, Motivation will also feature on Jebediah’s upcoming new album OIKS; their first album since 2011’s Kosciuszko, which will arrive on April 12, 2024. Pre-orders are available now via Cooking Vinyl Australia.
Ravishing in its simplicity and hypnotic drive, Motivation is an effortless foray into, and extension of, the pillars that have endeared Jebediah to the world since first forming decades ago. From the jangly guitars and undulating melodics pulsing through its verses through to driving anthemic fuzz in its choruses, Motivation was itself motivated by the band’s initial jam sessions that ultimately led to the creation of OIKS. And while it ultimately presents as an undisputed instant Jebediah classic, Motivation also holds a special significance for the band themselves, guided by long-time band friend and OIKS producer Dave Parkin at Blackbird Studios in Perth.
“Motivation was a song that came from the initial in studio jam sessions that kick started the process of recording OIKS,” the band share of their brand new track. “At that stage, we didn’t really know what kind of album we were trying to make. We were simply getting together in a room and making noise and seeing what eventuated. Given that Motivation came from these sessions, it’s a very “band” sounding song, as opposed to some of the more experimental stuff that came along later during the recording process. It captures the sound of the band playing in a room together and we tried not to embellish it too much. This song is a bit of a band favourite for sure, so we are obviously excited about it being released as a single before the album appears.”
Filming the accompanying music video for Motivation in Melbourne, Jebediah worked alongside another long-time collaborator to conjure the laidback visuals. With Arlo Cook behind the camera, who also took the reins on the clip for Gum Up The Bearings, aka the band’s first new single in over a decade released last year, Motivation’s clip is ultimately a mellow gem that authentically captures Jebediah’s enduring multi-generational appeal. Wholesome yet gritty and a perfect accompaniment to the earworm single, the clip is also yet another tempting peek into the upcoming release of OIKS – and the band are as excited as their legion of fans are to unveil their brand new album to the world, as they reveal, “The video clip is intended to represent the simplicity of the song and the fact that we were trying to capture the raw sound of the band playing in a room together. The video was shot in Melbourne by Arlo Cook who has been following us around with a camera since 2015, taking footage at shows all around Australia. We can’t wait for everyone to hear OIKS soon. It was a labour of love that took us five years to complete, often during extremely turbulent times.”
On their impending sixth studio album, OIKS, Jebediah catapult their iconic past and present into a dazzling new era. Remaining consistently active since the release of 2011’s Kosciuszko, Jebediah surge into 2024 with their new album, showcasing their enduring creativity without ever losing sight of their influential indie and alternative rock roots that ultimately shaped the band over the years and led to the eventual creation of OIKS. From its poppin’ and rockin’ lead single Gum Up The Bearings through to the lush Rubberman and dulcet new single Motivation, the overall record was born out of experimentation while in the studio with long-time collaborator Dave Parkin (Red Jezebel, Spacey Jane). The result is an album which finds Jebediah completely at home with their sonic identity in 2024; as iconic as their breakthrough debut Slightly Odway in 1997 but with more vigour than ever before.
Closing out 2023 with a headline tour, as well as appearances in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane as part of Good Things Festival alongside the likes of Fall Out Boy, Limp Bizkit, Devo and Slowly Slowly, Jebediah were also cemented as Western Australian music royalty, with the band inducted into the WAM Hall Of Fame as part of the WA Music Awards last November. From emerging decades ago with infectious hooks and gritty riffs through to soundtracking the late ‘90s and early 2000s with a deluge of hits and snagging multiple ARIA Award nominations, Jebediah are equally at home wowing crowds in dimly-lit crowded pubs as they are weaving musical magic to thousands on festival stages. And with the impending release of OIKS, it feels like Jebediah are only getting warmed up for some incredible things yet to come.
Motivation is out today via Cooking Vinyl Australia.
OIKS will be released on 12 April, 2024 via Cooking Vinyl Australia
EMMA YUE SHARES INTIMATE BALLAD ‘LONELY LOVER’ AND ANNOUNCES SINGLE LAUNCH AT THE GASO UPSTAIRS ON MARCH 28
A glistening yet gritty journey into self-reflection, the brand new single Lonely Lover (out today) is the ultimate indie rock ode to independence and the pursuit of connection from Melbourne singer-songwriter Emma Yue, who will be celebrating the track’s release with a gig at The Gaso Upstairs on March 28.
Continuing Emma’s knack for weaving addictive hooks with raw lyricism, Lonely Lover thrives with serene textures and spirited vulnerability, with the track driven by buoyant instrumentation and Emma’s crystalline vocals. A compelling earworm, Lonely Lover initially began life well beyond its firm indie flavours, with Emma drawing on long-term sonic influences to shift the new track to its latest form alongside newer muses. And while Lonely Lover may stem from bittersweet sentiments, its ultimate effect is one of hope, as Emma explains, “This single is probably the most honest and raw song I’ve released so far. It represents so much of my reality and feels so authentic to myself, which makes it sort of terrifying to share. When that fear and doubt comes up in my mind I’ve gotten into the habit of reminding myself that I really want to share it so that maybe people who can relate feel a little less alone and a little more optimistic. Around the time of writing it, I was really getting into some Aussie bands like Spacey Jane, but also absolutely obsessed with the song Kilby Girl by The Backseat Lovers. I think those influences came through a bit, while also having grown up listening to Taylor Swift all through my teenage years, her lyrical influence is definitely felt too. When I originally wrote the song, it was far more singer-songwriter and had a country rock feel to it, which I wanted to lean away from a bit. I worked with an incredible producer, Gus Cannon, who took the song and my description of how I wanted it be and gave it the sound it has now. He has been a huge influence on the finished product that we’re both incredibly proud of.”
With Marcelina Permatasari on drums, Gus Cannon on co-production and backing vocals, and Brad Jackson on co-production, mixing and mastering duties, Lonely Lover not only carries stylistic nods to Emma’s past and present; it also captures her own personal experiences with loneliness and isolation, emerging with a catchy yet universally relatable sonic gem. “When I wrote the song it was after a night out with a friend of mine and her long-time childhood friend who had come to visit her,” Emma explains. “I had such a lovely time with them both, but seeing their familiarity and effortless closeness made me feel incredibly lonely and got me thinking about my friendships and how moving countries at age 10 and 12 had played its role in them. That was about three years ago now, and since then the meaning of the song has very much changed to being about the loneliness of having a difficult emotional relationship with my parents. I was also reflecting on other parts of my life so far where I had felt lonely, growing up as a woman of colour in a predominantly white society, being a member of the LGBTQ community and being neurodivergent were all things that had made me feel socially isolated at various points too. While the song sounds upbeat and defiant and like an anthem of independence, it really is just about a girl who has a soul-deep loneliness and realises the only way that’s going to change is to become everything she needed for herself.”
A self-confessed purveyor of the phrase ‘do it for the plot’, Emma Yue has been capturing her effortlessly poetic creativity since an early age, first penning lyrics in the dark when she was eight before transforming her words into songs in her teens, channelling her craft as a form of self-expression and catharsis that has carried over into adulthood. Embodying the rollercoaster ups and downs of your early 20s, Emma pairs her personal experiences with themes of self-identity, sex, relationships, and mental health fused with genre-blending indie, pop rock, and punk sounds. Deeply driven by emotions, Emma’s musical vibe transports you to deeply intimate and familiar places; think wine drunk on the floor with your closest friends, speaking about taboo topics, stomach sore from laughing while knowing you need to be up early the next morning for work. Emma also firmly carries this feeling onto the stage with her five-piece band, and while her latest single Lonely Lover may be releasing on Valentine’s Day in 2024 – it certainly isn’t your average love song for the broken hearted, as Emma concludes, “To be honest I just thought it was a bit comical, I knew I wanted to release the song in mid-February and it didn’t occur to me to release it on that day until I saw the automatic “Valentine’s Day” event that Apple has in my calendar. While the song isn’t actually about romantic relationships, it definitely could be interpreted that way, and we absolutely love the kickass single independent queens of the world.”
Lonely Lover is out today, Wednesday February 14.
Tickets are available now to The Gaso Upstairs on March 28.
LONELY LOVER SINGLE LAUNCH | THU 28 MARCH | THE GASO UPSTAIRS | TICKETS
SAINTHILL SHARES ASTRAL NEW SINGLE + VIDEO ‘THE BLACK BULL’ NEW ALBUM ‘DREAM ANIMAL’ SET FOR RELEASE MARCH 1
Drawing you into a world of dreamy shoegaze and pulsating charm, the new single The Black Bull out today from Melbourne-based artist Sainthill is a lush and evocative journey taken from the talented artist’s impending new album Dream Animal, set for release on Friday March 1. A track many years in the making, The Black Bull also arrives today accompanied by an aptly whimsical music video.
Equally melancholic and intimate yet up-tempo and immersive, The Black Bull’s origin story stems back to 2018, with Sainthill, aka Tom Larkey, first tracking drums for the track pre-pandemic. With sonic inspiration from artists like Slowdive and Interpol helping to conjure the captivating single, the journey to creating The Black Bull can also be traced back to Sainthill’s extensive collection of dream journals, as he explains, “The Black Bull is a fairly up tempo song with pulsing bass and shoegaze elements like a mega-reverbed tremolo picking in the chorus. Also, I was learning to play So. Central Rain by R.E.M. and realised I’d lifted half the chord progression quite by accident! The origin of the song, like others on the album, begins in the hundreds of dream journal entries I have kept over the years that have an exceptional amount of animal appearances, and these were the frameworks for lyrical narratives. The Black Bull takes a potentially obvious metaphor (a black animal as depression) and then tells the story of someone taking matters into their own hands – in this case to train as a matador and overcome the bull (as grotesque as bullfighting is).”
Working once again with John Lee at Phaedra Studios (Lost Animal, Mod Con, Grand Salvo), with Lee mixing both The Black Bull and the broader Dream Animal album as well as playing and recording all of the drums, Sainthill also teamed up with Pip O’Brien, Grantley Smith and an obliging friend to step into the role of the titular bull to bring the accompanying music video for The Black Bull to life, as Sainthill reveals, “There are three characters in the clip: Blue Guy, Red Guy, and The Black Bull. The Blue Guy is the part of us that is optimistic, curious, but struggling. The Red Guy is our inner strength, and he essentially saves the day – by way of a good old fashioned sword fight with stick.. The Black Bull is the obstacle to overcome. At first mysterious, frightening, oppressive, but ultimately something that can be made peace with. Pip O’Brien helped me shoot the initial scenes (she shot a beautiful clip for Cold Hands Warm Heart). I needed some further footage, so an old friend Grantley Smith who happens to be a director and quite handy with a camera, helped me out. I also managed to convince my friend Tom to be in the clip as ‘The Bull’ and wear a ridiculous helmet.”
Partially recording Dream Animal at home (“in the evenings when the birds stopped chirping outside” as Sainthill reveals), the overall album is a fascinating foray into imaginative and innovative dreamy, shoegaze-laced rock. Five years in the making, Dream Animal trips the light fantastic in pure chameleonic fashion, between its heavy synth fever dreams (Lyrebird), melodic rock-meets-chamber music opuses (Cat Called Gram), galloping melancholia (The Clydesdale), eastern-hued enchantment (Leporine Lover) and digital dreamlands shaped alongside organic instrumentation (Nothin’ Except Dream). “I dream a lot, and I have hundreds of dream journal entries,” Sainthill explains, unfurling the stylistic threads throughout Dream Animal. “I noticed an exceptional (or perhaps disturbing?) amount of animal appearances, and these encounters became the basis for metaphorical stories of lost cats, vulnerable horses, and sinister bulls. Chiming guitars and swirling keys ebb and flow, while sprightly rhythms carry simple yet elegant melodies Each song features some sort of narrative (mostly including animals), and these narratives are frameworks for moralistic tales and reflections on the subconscious. The themes include love, loss and renewal, romantic elusion, depression, dream symbols, setting things free, looking after the planet, and music-making itself.”
Hailing from Tasmania and now based in Melbourne, Sainthill was seemingly destined to create bewitching, bittersweet rock, named not only for his mother’s maiden name St Hill, but also for his first cousin twice removed, Loudon Sainthill; an iconic Australian artist and stage designer whose work in the 1950s was described by his lifelong partner as having ‘a special quality of enchantment, mixed so often with haunting sadness’. Growing up in Hobart and spending bountiful time in nature, Sainthill’s love for music and creativity in general blossomed from a young age, discovering Bruce Springsteen when he was five before going on to release his debut EP I Am a Monster in 2009. Now with three albums under his belt, Dear Victoria, Man Alive and Folk Romantic, Sainthill continues to explore character-driven narratives alongside a gamut of hard-hitting themes, and his upcoming full length, Dream Animal, is a celebration of dream pop soundscapes forged with indie rock and folk; and it’s also one that promises untold beauty and intrigue for the listener, as Sainthill concludes, “Dream Animal is a concept album of sorts; the songs are borne from sleep, and thus make the perfect soundtrack to close one’s eyes to, and lose oneself in.
The Black Bull is out today, Friday February 2.
Dream Animal is due out on Friday March 1.