Image Courtesy of Falls

Ainsley Farrell – “Dark Spell”

“Dark Spell” is the new single from Sydney based singer-songwriter Ainsley Farrell. The track captures Farrell’s vulnerability as a songwriter and couples her unique vocal style with electric guitar and a driving rhythm section.

“I wrote “Dark Spell” about losing yourself in a relationship and becoming someone you’re not to appease the other person,” Ainsley Farrell explained. “It’s about taking on the heartbreak of two people.”

Ainsley Farrell self directed the video for “Dark Spell”.

“The idea for the video was to do all these mundane tasks like laundry and showering with different faces, and have the faces take over and consume me,” she said. “The magazine cut out of faces are meant to represent the part of you that’s lost I guess – it ended up being a lot creepier than I imagined.”

Ainsley Farrell will be supporting Asha Jefferies at Low 302 in Sydney on the 21st September.

Bobby Alu – “Fire”

Roots singer-songwriter Bobby Alu recently debuted his new single “Fire”. The sunny track sees Alu pulling from numerous influences, including reggae and soul, to create a sound that’s bound to put a smile on your face.

“”Fire” is about good flow,” Bobby Alu explained. “Searching inside yourself to find the courage to push your energy into things you love. Instead of finding discomfort and fear, you find power and fire. I love these moments and when I started writing this song I was searching for that fire in myself again. This made me realise when this type of feeling comes by, it’s time to strike and make most of the goodness.”

“Fire” taken from Bobby Alu’s newly announced album Flow which hits stands on the 18th October. He’ll also be heading out on tour with Busby Marou in October and November:

Friday 25th October – The Tivoli, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday 26th October – Venue 114, Sunshine Coast, QLD
Sunday 27th October – Home of Arts, Gold Coast, QLD
Thursday 31st October – Lions Arts Factory, Adelaide, SA
Friday 1st November – The Freo.Social, Fremantle, WA
Saturday 2nd November – The River, Margaret River, WA
Friday 8th November – Palais, Hepburn Springs, VIC
Saturday 9th November – Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
Thursday 14th November – The Cambridge, Newcastle, NSW
Friday 15th November – The Factory Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Saturday 16th November – Ettamogah Hotel, Kellyville Ridge, NSW
Friday 22nd November – The Jack, Cairns, QLD
Saturday 23rd November – Kirwan Tavern, Townsville, QLD

Catherine Traicos – “And I Ran”

Celebrated folk singer Catherine Traicos has just released her brand new single “And I Ran”, the first taste of her upcoming album Nobody Could Hear Us to be released on the 25th October. The song’s slightly unconventional chord progression melds wonderfully with Traicos’ sweet if somewhat haunting voice.

“When I wrote this song it was just the music and that unconventional structure that presented itself in about three minutes in someone’s living room, on a borrowed guitar that hadn’t been played in so long the tuning had gone down a tone,” Catherine Traicos explained. “I sat with the song for ages, trying out different lyrics and structures but nothing felt quite right. And then I put it away for almost a year!

“Then there was a definite point of change in my life where I was able to sit back and be angry and that is when most of the songs came together. I feel that often when things are bad you are just engulfed by them and often they can be so bad that you bypass and can’t process emotion. So when I finally wrote the song I was in the post bypass state of utter fury at events, at certain people and mostly at myself. But the piece just couldn’t work as an angry song no matter how much I tried to push it in that direction. I latched onto the amazing bliss that was also concurrently present in my life (go reality!) and wrote about that instead.”

Falls – “On Attack”

There’s a long history between LA based Sydney duo Falls and Timber and Steel. Last Friday they released their new single “On Attack”, their first in far too long. The track features Falls’ trademark harmonies intertwined through a driving, rhythmic melody that had me up and dancing.

“When the idea of home is illusive and you feel like you’ve lost your grounding, you sometimes find yourself clinging to people like life rafts,” Melinda Kirwin explained. “This song is about that moment when you realize that you’re not drowning, you can touch the ocean floor with your feet, and you can save yourself.”

There’s so much nostalgia on this track, I love it. “On Attack” is the first taster of Falls’ upcoming EP Bodega Rose, due in October.

Mark Moldre – “Josephine”

Americana singer-songwriter Mark Moldre has just released his new single and video “Josephine”. Taken from his 2019 album Fever Dreams, “Josephine” is a hypnotic, melancholic, dream-like track and the accompanying video plays up to this tone with strange, somewhat surreal visuals. This is very much modern, Australian Americana – more of this and less of everything else.

Michael Waugh – “Big Things”

No one is capturing the Australian experience at the moment quite like Michael Waugh. His storytelling songwriting style taps into something nostalgic but also delivers an emotional wallop. “Big Things” is not just about the “fibre glass fruit” that dots Australia’s highways, but instead anchors a primal story of growing up in the bush with the familiar archetypes of the Australian road trip.

“Big Things is about family – and the making of this video was a real family affair,” Michael Waugh explained. “My good friend Miguel Rios shot and directed – assisted by his partner, Meredith O’Shea. Though, the real stars are Meredith and Miguel’s kids. My favourite moment in the shoot was when Meredith gave them the direction to ‘look sad like an orphan for mummy’. I was rolling around on the ground laughing too much for the kids to adopt the required look of abandonment.

“The concept was about these kids recreating the family car trip to see the big things of Australia. They use whatever is at hand – coat hangers become the harbour bridge, the fruit bowl raided to create the big banana, teddies duct taped onto the couch to be back seat passengers. Like the goldfish, temporarily displaced so the bowl can be used as an astronaut helmet, two little kids swim around the house – playing out the memory of that family trip. Because in another part of the house there are other big things happening.”

Michael Waugh is currently out on tour – his upcoming dates are below:

Saturday 14th September – The Palais, Hepburn Springs, VIC
Saturday 21st September – Sandy Point Music Club. Sandy Point, VIC
Friday 4th October – Oodies Café, Bundaberg, QLD
Saturday 12th to Saturday 19th October – Cruisin Country 2019
Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd November – Maldon Folk Festival, Maldon, VIC
Saturday 16th November – Humph Hall, Sydney, NSW
Sunday 17th November – Illawarra Folk Club show, Kiama, NSW
Saturday 23rd November – Burke and Wills Winery, Heathcote, VIC
Saturday 30th November – By the Banks Festival, Albury, VIC
Wednesday 11th December – The Lomond Hotel, Melbourne, VIC

Montgomery Church – “I Was Young When I Left Home”

Folk and Americana duo Montgomery Church have delivered a stunning cover of Bob Dylan’s “I Was Young When I Left Home” for their latest single. Stripped back to just voice, guitar and dobro Montgomery Church make the song their own. I particularly love the moments of vocal harmony punctuated by James Church’s slide playing – really beautiful stuff.

Nathan Power – “Sparrow Song”

I really like this live version of Nathan Power’s new single “Sparrow Song” courtesy of the Shoelace Sessions. The Bluegrass-folk instrumentation of guitar, bass, fiddle and mandolin perfectly accompanies the song which makes some really interesting chordal twists and turns which still staying very true to the genre.

Nathan Power is currently touring the new single – see the upcoming dates below:

Friday 13th September – Guildford Family Hotel, Guildford, NSW
Saturday 21st September – Tumut River Brewing, Tumut, NSW
Sunday 22nd September – Old Bus Depot, Canberra, ACT
Sunday 22nd September – Birdhouse, Wagga Wagga, NSW
Thursday 26th September – Foghorn Brewhouse, Newcastle, NSW
Friday 27th September – Charlies Last Stand, Armidale, NSW
Saturday 28th September – 63 First, Sawtell, NSW
Sunday 29th September – Pacific Hotel, Yamba, NSW
Wednesday 2nd October – Lomond Acoustic, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday 2nd November – Blue Bean Love, Hepburn Springs, VIC
Friday 8th to Sunday 10th November – Bendigo Blues and Roots Festival, Bendigo, VIC

Robert Cini – “Different Road”

Far North Queensland roots singer-songwriter Robert Cini has released the very summery sounding “Different Road”. The track is toe-tappingly catchy but also has a really personal message around what it feels like to be “different” from the mainstream.

“Anyone that feels a little different and out of place, or has life a bit tougher than normal, I think will relate to this song,” Robert Cini explains.

“Different Road” is taken from Cini’s brand new debut album Imaginary Fun which was released last week.

Sam Buckingham – “Real Life”

Singer-songwriter and Timber and Steel favourite Sam Buckingham returns with her gorgeous new song “Real Life”. Buckingham has a knack for writing beautiful acoustic folk songs with catchy choruses and deep lyrics, and “Real Life” is yet another example of her skill.

“This song feels like the fruits of a long inner journey,” Sam Buckingham explains. “I’m kind of just reporting back on some big things that I’ve felt and learnt over the years.”

Sam Buckingham is heading out on tour this October – full dates are below:

Friday 4th October – Junk Bar, Ashgrove, QLD
Saturday 5th October – Dusty Attic, Lismore, NSW
Friday 11th October – Low 302, Sydney, NSW
Saturday 12th October – Smith’s Alternative, Canberra, ACT
Friday 25th October – Wesley Anne, Melbourne, VIC

The East Pointers – “Wintergreen”

“Wintergreen” is the gorgeous new song and video from Canadian folk trio The East Pointers. The song combines the group’s trad-inspired instrumental style with an expansive indie-folk songwriting approach they began to dabble in with their 2017 album What We Leave Behind. The video for “Wintergreen” elevates the song with a stunning AUSLAN dance performance from Emma Watkins.

The East Pointers have announced their new album Yours To Break, which will feature “Wintergreen”, will be released on the 25th October.

The Teskey Brothers – “Paint My Heart”

I feel like we feature The Teskey Brothers every week, but I reckon that’s because they’re releasing some amazing music at the moment, especially since the release of their new album Run Home Slow. “Paint My Heart” is The Teskey Brothers in epic soul mode, from the With-A-Little-Help-From-My-Friends like opening, the slow build towards the double time jam long, right up to the drawn out vocal finish. This is not music for the Spotify generation where you avoid the slow burn or extended instrumental to stop the audience from skipping – this is music that revels in itself and its influences. Delightful.

Vetiver – “To Who Knows Where”

Nu-folk stalwarts Vetiver released their amazing new single “To Who Knows Where”, taken from their upcoming album Up On High which is due on the 1st November. The Nick Drake-esque track is a lush, dreamy song which very much draws you in and wraps you up in warm blanket of folky goodness.