HAPPY AXE is the gossamer-delicate, intimately confessional dream-folk project of Canberra-born, Melbourne-based Emma Kelly, who’ll be releasing her second album, Maybe It’ll Be Beautiful, early in July.
And she’s been kind enough to share a delicate gem from that, her second album; “One Morning” is whispery with reverb, processes through the secret garden on fragile guitar, strings and a musical saw, bringing the Vashti Bunyan sound right forward for 2021. TL; DR: it’s luscious.
“Maybe I chose the wrong adventure?” Emma sings, reflecting on her choice to move to Melbourne just as the city entered extended lockdown.
“The day I wrote this I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I might wake up at any moment from the pandemic,” she says, “and that it was just a bad dream, as things had gotten so scary and Melbourne was so weirdly quiet that it didn’t feel real.
“I’d look up at big high-rise apartments and know that everyone was cooped up in there like bees in a hive.”
The single features fellow Melbourne-based artist Butternut Sweetheart, aka Luke Moseley, who has become a close friend and collaborator in recent months. His vocal harmonies and drums anchor the tune.
And when the song breaks for that otherworldy, thereminesque musical saw break? Well …
Her second album reflects on some of the connections and friendships in her life in songs that celebrate the people closest to her.
“This album is about a lot of things: childhood memories, childhood headspaces, old family stories,” she reveals. “Listening to my feelings again after a period of being too logical.
“It’s about rejecting the rationalisation of everything in my life and learning to put my trust in romance and magic again.
“It’s for people who like being swept up in experiences, because I love music that does that for me. My hope is that this music reminds people of nature, discovery, and being outside at night.”
Happy Axe’s Maybe It’ll Be Beautiful will receive a digital release on July 7th; you can pre-order your copy now over at Bandcamp.
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