British folk duo Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker have announced their maiden Australian visit on the back of the release of their new album Seedlings All. It’s a landmark release for the pair, their first album of entirely original material.
“For the first time I’m out there alone with a bunch of songs that expose my insecurities, fears of failure and inflated pride,” Josienne explained. “They deal with my own specific thoughts and feelings about the reality of pursuing this kind of career, the cost to personal relationships, circumstance and lifestyle, and asking the question – “Is this still worth it?” They’re about trying to find an inner balance in an environment that doesn’t provide any balance or certainty. Where one day everything is brilliant and the next day it could all be over. Where one night ends in a standing ovation and the next starts by playing to an empty room.”
The album features the gorgeous new single “Chicago,” about a night in the Windy City that was memorable for all the wrong reasons.
“We drove all day to get to Chicago, we got to our hotel on the outskirts of town and had five minutes to drop our bags and then get back in the car to drive another hour into the centre of Chicago to sound check. We did that, soundcheck went fine, but then NO ONE came to the gig. There was a support act that night who despite being local didn’t appear to have any friends,” she remembers. “It was one of those gigs where you wonder whether it’s even worth going on, but we’re sticklers for a contractual obligation, so we played. After our set one of the guys from the support band said to me that he thought an hour set of our music was “a bit long” because “it’s the kind of music you have to listen to and think about and it’s Saturday and no one wants to do that”. So I was sitting at the bar drinking my quadruple Bulliet bourbon thinking “fuck this, I’m not doing it anymore, the world is not made for my gift!” and then I realised that I was being a knob and that’s just how it is, we’re not the fucking Beatles and we have to start somewhere, we played to no one in the UK and we’d have to get used to it here too. So I wrote this song mainly to have a word with myself about not being a massive diva….”
Hopefully they have a better turn-out on their Aussie dates! Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker will play some of the country’s key folk festivals and a Melbourne show while they’re on Australian shores. Seedlings All hits stores on March 23.
10 & 11 March 2018 – Port Fairy Folk Festival, Port Fairy
14 March 2018 – Modern Folk from Britain at Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne
17 & 18 March 2018 – Blue Mountains Music Festival, Katoomba
Image used with permission from Remote Control
She might be just 19, but already emerging MC Mallrat has achieved more in her career than many people twice her age. Her debut EP Univited clocked up 14 million streams, she’s played every Aussie festival that matters including Splendour, Falls, Beyond the Valley, and Come Together, and she’s supported heavy hitters like Post Malone, Peking Duk, and the man who inspired her to make her own music, Allday.
