GEORGIA FIELDS SHARES NEW SINGLE + VIDEO ‘HOLDING MY HANDS OUT’
Ever-engaging and perpetually cutting-edge, indie shapeshifter Georgia Fields once again wows with elegant ease on her bold new track Holding My Hands Out, officially released today.
A magnetic showing of fearless art-pop and searing vulnerability, Holding My Hands Out marks another sublime insight into Georgia’s upcoming third full-length album Hiraeth. The new track is accompanied by a bewitching, kaleidoscopic music video – in which we see Georgia ominously expel moths from her mouth – firmly reflecting thematic notions of rebirth, and the dark depths of the subconscious.
Georgia will be celebrating the single’s release with an all ages matinee show at Wesley Anne on Sunday July 10.
Holding My Hands Out dazzles in textural dexterity, powerful melodics, and the compelling vocal stylings of Georgia herself – as she strides freely from breathy serenity to dauntless power. Brought to life by producer, engineer & drummer Josh Barber (Gretta Ray, Emma Anglesey, Gotye), the recording process saw Georgia and Josh experiment with found objects, crafting the track’s distinctive snare sample by layering half-broken children’s toys and vintage wood percussion. Terracotta pots were played melodically with felted sticks. Finally, with the addition of Georgia’s string quartet Andromeda, it’s little wonder the end result is otherworldly, immersive and lush; a perfect adjunct to the single’s inspiration and narrative content, as Georgia elaborates:
“It’s a song about that primal desire we all have to be held. It’s about reaching your hands out for comfort, but grasping at shadows. From a songwriting perspective, I was inspired by the simple yet anthemic choruses of artists like Sarah Blasko, Weyes Blood and Sharon van Etten. I was also hugely impacted by the novel Islands, by Australian author Peggy Frew. There’s something about Peggy’s writing that cuts straight to my heart – I’ve found all her novels deeply affecting. Holding My Hands Out is partly written from the perspective of her character June, as well as June’s mother, Helen.”
The video for Holding My Hands Out features the eleventh collaboration between Georgia and independent director and cinematographer Rohan Spong. Georgia emphatically stands front-and-centre, embodying the poignant lyrics and oscillating emotives, styled in striking, statement sleeves by iconic Australian label Sass & Bide and a custom piece from Anna Cordell Clothing. As to the video concept and final mesmerising end result, Georgia shares:
“Something very special happens when I hand a song over to Rohan. His visual interpretation of my music always reveals a deeper understanding of my own songs back to me. I rarely present a video concept; I’m always keen to hear what the song sparks in his mind’s eye.”
“For Holding My Hands Out, we wanted to play with light, colour and shadow, referencing the lyrics ‘you move like a shadow’. Rohan had this idea that I could cough up moths, and they would swarm above me like a cloud of unspoken menace. I loved this because moths represent transformation and rebirth, but also disguise, our hidden nature, and the night – the realm of the subconscious. To create that feeling of non-space, or the internal landscape (similar to The Void in Stranger Things), we filmed in both the cyclorama and black room at DCF Studios in Thornbury.”
Since emerging onto the Melbourne music scene in 2010 with her critically-acclaimed self-titled debut album, Georgia has continued to sonically surprise her audience. Her solo show sees the genre-defying trailblazer swap between electric guitar, vintage keyboards, and textural live looping. Georgia is also regularly joined by her 4- piece band of multi-instrumentalists, and frequently collaborates with the Andromeda String Quartet in an ethereal, art music / chamber folk crossover. In 2020, she launched Mother Lode: an online community for self-employed musicians who are mothers.
Now, Georgia sets her sights firmly on the release of her third studio album Hiraeth; a follow-up from 2016’s Astral Debris, which garnered airplay on Douple J, ABC Radio National and community radio nationwide. Inspired by the Welsh word with no direct English translation, Georgia’s new body of work explores “a profound longing for a home you can’t return to…the nostalgia/grief for the lost places of your past”. Holding My Hands Out is a salient snippet of what’s to come on Hiraeth, while ultimately offering Georgia the chance to turn her creative verve outward once more, as she concludes:
“The process of songwriting and recording is quite an internal one for me – so I’m really looking forward to shifting my focus; sharing this song with the world, and seeing how it connects with people. It’s a vulnerable feeling, but also quite joyful.”
Holding My Hands Out is out Friday 17 June. Hiraeth is due in November 2022.
This project is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, as well as the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
HOLDING MY HANDS OUT SINGLE LAUNCH
SUN 10 JUL | WESLEY ANNE, NORTHCOTE | 3PM MATINEE | AA