ELLERY COHEN SHARES NEW SINGLE + VIDEO ‘DEMONS’
Forever heartfelt and extraordinarily sincere, Melbourne alt-pop artist Ellery Cohen has continued his impressive rise to the top, pairing vulnerability with admirable earnestness on new track Demons, which officially releases today. As captivating and catchy as it is effective, Demons is another victorious step in Ellery’s majestic career, serving as his first new single for the year, and arriving alongside a resonant video clip which contextualises the track’s message of facing the inner turmoils of life head-on.
Bathed in the nostalgic sheen of retro-inspired synths, and bolstered by Ellery’s syrupy smooth vocals, Demons is a standout moment for the Melbourne artist, showcasing a powerful and relatable message after some difficult years, while underlining his electric artistry that makes him stand out from the rest. With a compelling songwriting style reminiscent of musical icons John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and an enveloping approach to sonics that evokes names such as Ben Rector and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder, Demons is a triumphant undertaking for Ellery, who has emerged from the “hell on earth” of Melbourne’s COVID lockdowns with not only a newfound approach to life, but to his music as well. As Elleryexplains, “Demons is a step above what I’ve released before, both musically and lyrically, and it’s more vulnerable than anything I’ve done previously. It’s a song about accepting the things in life we can’t change. We all face struggles and battle addictions and we wanted to write a song about there being comfort in knowing that all humans struggle and although we are different, we are all the same.” Working on the track over a lengthy period of time, the composition of Demons was aided by the talents of No Frills Twins’ Arna and Vanessa Rogers, before harnessing the talents of ENTENTE’s Ezekiel Fenn and Michael Best in the studio. As Ellery recalls, “I wrote this song in three sections. I flew up and had a writing session with Arna and Vanessa of the No Frill Twins and we wrote part of the song, and I finished off part of the Zoom session with Vanessa, before finalising the song with my producers in the studio. I worked with my friends Michael & Zeke in ENTENTE who have produced my last few singles and they smashed this one too.”
The stunning video for Demons serves as a masterful contextualisation of the track’s heartfelt message. Harnessing the directorial talents of Clique Films’ producer-turned-filmmaker Daniel Kelaart (The Paper Kites, Simple Plan, Guy Sebastian), Ellery and the team worked over three nights to craft a clip that fully realises his vision, fusing intimate performance footage with shots of two people who are urged not to lose faith as they await the sunshine after the rain. As Ellery elaborates, “We really wanted a video that showed the message of the song. Demons is all about the struggles we all face in life. The video follows the stories of two people just trying to work through their ‘demons’ in life. One is a lady trying desperately to be in a body she loves and the other is someone who is working a job he hates and hoping to get away. I wanted to make a video that hits emotions that we have all experienced in life.”
Having first emerged onto Melbourne’s diverse music scene close to a decade ago, Ellery Cohen has continued to push the boundaries of artistry at every opportunity, crafting anthemic choruses that allow an accessible and relatable insight into the human condition. With a remarkable run of singles appearing throughout 2018 and 2020, and garnering support from the likes of Hit Network, KIIS Network, and Southern Cross Austereo, his gathering momentum was temporarily halted as Ellery was forced inside as part of the world’s most stringent lockdown. However, armed with a history of using music therapy in his line of disability support service work, creativity served as a much-needed saviour, with new music bubbling away all the while, resulting in the likes of 2021’s Waiting and the newly-released Demons. With new music under his belt and the Australian music scene looking far more positive than it has in recent years, Ellery is set to return to the stage in his native Melbourne at The Toff In Town on July 22 with good friends Kodah and Sarah Kabbani. Eager to share the likes of Demons before an adoring crowd, and to get back into the groove of providing raw and powerful live performances, Ellery says he’s planning to ensure his upcoming show is one to remember. “You can expect new songs, high energy, and some very, very bad jokes,” he quips.
Demons is out today, July 14.
RICH WEBB SHARES NEW SINGLE ‘I DON’T MIND AT ALL’
Just a few months on from his most recent release, critically-acclaimed Melbourne alt-country singer/songwriter Rich Webb has returned with another stellar single, sharing the summery I Don’t Mind At All. The latest taste from his forthcoming album, RIGHT!, I Don’t Mind At All shimmers with the visceral, welcoming warmth of the summer months, evoking imagery of hazy, sun-kissed days spent with a sense of clear-eyed freedom and warmth.
Powered along by lyrics that reside within the inner recesses of our memories, and instrumentation as dreamy and carefree as the subject matter itself, I Don’t Mind At All focuses on the little things that make up our mighty memories. Working with his talented band (including Matt Dixon, and Oh Mercy’s Rohan Sforcina, to name a few), and with Sforcina and Wakeman joining Rich on production duties, the resulting track transports the listener back to “a certain place and a certain time”. Inspired by the likes of Khruangbin, Dirty Projectors, Rickie Lee Jones, and Jack Johnson, Richchannels the effortless abilities of these artists to succinctly capture emotion and feeling through song, taking the listener back to the seemingly inconsequential moments which resonate forever. As Rich explains, “It tries to capture that feeling of the sun and the freedom that can come in summer and with summer holidays. About those times where you leave everything behind and live in the moment – these moments can feel like they last forever. It’s about that feeling of freedom, connection, and fun you get on holidays with people you love.”
As heartfelt as it is emotive, I Don’t Mind At All is bathed in the youthful sheen of early nostalgia, where those formative memories are first planted, and remain to this very day. As its subtitle – Bring On Summer – indicates, the majority of its focus is on the summer months, which traditionally hold a sense of comfort and youthful peace. As Rich recalls, the idyllic nature of these summer months have followed him around the world and throughout his life, informing his outlook all the while, “When I was a kid, that used to be three weeks or so in an orange family tent with my Mum and Dad and two brothers, often beside a beach in Wales. Here, it’s been heading out in an old column shift Ford Falcon down the Great Ocean Road for a few weeks when my brother and best mate came over, or the other way with my family to Marlo or Mallacoota. Just lovely dreamy times where you forget about work and the things that bug you or get in the way, and spend time together, just living for the moment and having fun.”
A staple of the Australian music scene for more than two-and-a-half decades, Rich Webb has curated a career as a truly mesmerising artist whose reputation precedes him. With numerous albums to his name, Rich’s inimitable command of music and lyrics has seen him attract global attention throughout his storied career, with 2019 even bringing with awards for Alt-Country Album Of The Year and Alt-Country Single Of The Year at the Independent Music Awards in New York. Now, four years on from the release of his last album, Le Rayon Vert, Rich is set to unveil his next record, RIGHT!, later in the year. Preceded by February’s Love Someone, 2022 is unfolding as a banner year in the career of one of the country’s most revered artists.
I Don’t Mind At All is out today, July 22.
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT SHARE NEW SINGLE VISITING HOURS ANNOUNCE RELEASE DATE FOR NEW ALBUM IV FOR SEPTEMBER 2 SELL OUT MELBOURNE + ADD SECOND MELBOURNE SHOW TO NATIONAL TOUR
Fusing smouldering intensity with existential exploration, the latest track Visiting Hours from Aussie rock legends The Butterfly Effect continues the quartet’s passionate journey towards the release of their long-awaited fourth studio album: the aptly titled IV, with the official release date today unveiled to be September 2. An emphatic anthem that harks back to earlier Butters territory while staunchly showcasing the group’s ongoing evolution, Visiting Hours is another triumphant peek into the brand new LP that will arrive 14 years after its predecessor, 2008’s The Final Conversation of Kings.
With a stacked national tour also on the cards from late September into October, the band’s first full tour since 2019, fans can catch old and new favourite tunes across the country, with Ben Hall, Clint Boge, Glenn Esmond and Kurt Goedhart, aka The Butterfly Effect, bringing local heavies Thornhill and Caligula’s Horse along for the ride, kicking off in Cairns at Tanks Art Centre on September 30 before hitting Townsville, Mackay, Toowoomba, Brisbane, Sydney, Hobart, Melbourne and Adelaide before bringing proceedings to a close in Fremantle on October 16. And for fans in Melbourne who missed out on tickets to the sold out October 14 show at Northcote Theatre, The Butterfly Effect have also confirmed a second Melbourne show at Northcote Theatre set for October 13. For tickets and information, head to www.thebutterflyeffectband.com.au.
Visiting Hours unfurls with haunting guitar work courtesy of axe-man Kurt before steadily building a world of melodic beauty and oscillating beats around frontman Clint’s raw yet intimate vocals. A dark, brooding and, ultimately, optimistic outing that draws inspiration from the likes of Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, Tori Amos and Kate Bush, Visiting Hours showcases an assured and steady technicality from the Brisbane quartet, with the occasional heavier textures signposting the band’s rockstar status alongside sparser moments juxtaposing previous riff-heavy singles like Nil By Mouth and So Tired. An instant and unmistakable The Butterfly Effect opus, Visiting Hours holds a special place for the band while lyrically traversing life and the human condition, as Clint explains, “It feels amazing as always to be releasing new music and I really think this song is one of our best. To me it is about our eternal search for meaning and worth. It’s about the human condition and an existential crisis that faces us all, but at the same time as asking questions it has an undertone of hope and I hope that resonates with everyone that listens to it.” Echoing Clint’s sentiments, bass player Glenn shares, “This is probably my favourite of the new songs. I’ve loved this tune ever since we first demoed it back in 2009. I’m so excited that everyone’s going to finally get a chance to hear it. All of us in the band have acutely felt the passing of time, and I think Clint’s words reflect this. Our time here, as people and as artists, is very fleeting. Life is delicately impermanent and we’re never guaranteed a second chance.”
Following a chance meeting at a gig back in 2017 between Kurt and Clint, absence had entirely made the heart grow fonder following Clint’s departure from the band in 2012 and the ultimate disbanding of The Butterfly Effect announced back in 2016. And from fortuitous meetings to reuniting the original lineup back in 2018, The Butterfly Effect soon set their sights on album #4, bringing in the likes of Forrester Savell, Nick DiDia, Matt Bartlem, Clint Vincent, Luke Palmer and Stuart Stuart to bring various pieces of the new release to life; and the end result for IV is nothing short of electrifying. Journeying through love and hate, gains and losses, highs and lows, life and death and beyond, IV burrows into themes of dreams and the realities of the dichotomies of life, as well as the variables we all face on a daily basis. Opening with hazy, brooding intensity via title track IV, the broader IV album brushes with soaring melodics (Dark Light), crushing textures (The Other Side), searing riffage (Nil By Mouth) and a horde of inspiration from the likes of Faith No More, Gojira, Jeff Buckley and Deftones. Showcasing The Butterfly Effect at their most elegantly ferocious and focused to date, there’s significant balance throughout IV between show-stopping rock and riffing roar alongside significantly hard-hitting thematics, as Glenn elaborates, “It feels like there’s lots of contemplation of death and rebirth. Disconnection and then reconnection. The temporary nature of time, the passing of dreams, getting older, dealing with change, finding new meaning in life. All of these are completely understandable when you consider the history of the band over the last 10 years and where we all find ourselves as we get older”.
A band significantly well-versed in writing, recording and life on the road, The Butterfly Effect remain one of the all-time Australian greats of their generation, from their critically-acclaimed previous releases to their voracious live shows, both at home and abroad. And while the upcoming new album may be arriving at a very different stage of life, both for the band personally and their legion of lifelong fans, IV is a textbook example of expecting the unexpected, offering a chance for a collection of songs to finally leap into the world alongside freshly written material, as Clint shares, “I am so happy we got here to this point in time. Some of these songs were written straight after Final Conversation of Kings and would have been on the next album had we stayed together. So for these songs to see the light of day and for us to be able to present them to all who wish to listen is a huge privilege and a moment I won’t forget.”
Fans can look forward to a healthy mix of new Butters tunes alongside plenty of fan favourites when The Butterfly Effect take to stages to celebrate IV later this year, and the band themselves couldn’t be more excited to make their way around Australia armed with their brand new album. Of the upcoming shows, Clint says, “I’m excited about all the shows from the smaller stages in the north where it’s up close and super personal to the bigger stages and bigger rooms down south, it’s going to be great getting back out there”. And while fans are already ecstatic about the impending tour, with the original Melbourne date already sold out and a second one jumping in for good measure, the band can’t wait to hit the road, as Glenn concludes, “I’m most excited about playing fantastic new songs. The familiar faces of fans that have been supporting us for so long. The camaraderie with the crew and the other guys in the band. Life can be pretty busy, and the opportunities to socialise and hang out seem to get fewer as we get older. Beers, shit talk, fried food from the servo, I am going to enjoy every moment”.
Tickets for The Butterfly Effect’s upcoming national tour are on sale now from www.thebutterflyeffectband.com.au.
Visiting Hours is out today, Friday July 15.
IV is set for release on September 2.
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT – IV 2022 TOUR:
with guests Thornhill & Caligula’s Horse
Tickets available from: www.thebutterflyeffectband.com.au
FRI 30 SEPT | TANKS ARTS CENTRE, CAIRNS, QLD | 18+
SAT 1 OCT | MANSFIELD HOTEL, TOWNSVILLE, QLD | 18+
SUN 2 OCT | HARRUP PARK, MACKAY, QLD | 18+
THUR 6 OCT | BLANK SPACE, TOOWOOMBA, QLD | 18+
FRI 7 OCT | EATONS HILL HOTEL, BRISBANE, QLD | 18+
SAT 8 OCT | UNSW ROUNDHOUSE, SYDNEY, NSW | 18+
SUN 9 OCT | HOBART UNI BAR, HOBART, TAS | 18+
THUR 13 OCT | NORTHCOTE THEATRE, MELBOURNE, VIC | 18+ *NEW SHOW*
FRI 14 OCT | NORTHCOTE THEATRE, MELBOURNE, VIC | 18+ *SOLD OUT*
SUN 15 OCT | HINDLEY ST MUSIC HALL, ADELAIDE, SA | 18+
SUN 16 OCT | METROPOLIS, FREMANTLE, WA | 18+
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT – IV – Tracklisting
IV
Dark Light
So Tired
The Other Side
Wave of Tides
Unbroken
Nil By Mouth
Great Heights
Start Again
Visiting Hours