WILD PLACES FIND STUNNING REFUGE IN THE HANDS OF BEGUILING SINGER-SONGWRITER ANNA SMYRK WITH HER BRAND NEW EP SWIM PREMIERING TODAY ON THE SOUNDCHECK.
From early life on a lavender farm in Central Victoria to finding herself in wild, unknown places, divine indie-folk songstress Anna Smyrk is a woman who effortlessly weaves intimately raw ballads with a subtle mystique, conjuring lush and layered harmonies against an alt-country backdrop that hints at fellow artists like Seeker Lover Keeper and Gillian Welch - but with a dazzling contemporary twist.
Armed already with her debut EP Song of the Silver-Tongued Magpie, Smyrk returns in 2019 with a heavenly bundle of songs making up her sophomore EP Swim as she captures time spent in wild locales. From the sapphire waters of the Solomon Islands to a crumbling Cambodian town, there's a powerful sense of yearning and connection to Swim, as Smyrk explains:
"Being in unfamiliar places always spurs new ideas for me. I wrote these songs in the Solomon Islands, Cambodia and Australia. I was living in places that were so different in so many ways, but water, rain and the ocean were fundamental in all of them, and images of water kept coming up in the songs"
Incorporating a band of Smyrk's friends on violin, banjo, dobro, double bass and drums (and her sister on backing vocals), Swim tests the waters with dreamy lulls (Benjamin), juxtapositions of long-distance love and waiting for monsoon season in a small Cambodian town (The Wait), watching the world submerge in the Pacific Islands (Home), longing for the ocean (Bones) and ultimately finding hope in the dark (Alight). And perhaps fittingly, the EP was in fact recorded in a Central Victorian farmhouse in the middle of a dry, brown summer - a locale so contrasting to the water and oceanic themes steadily flowing throughout Swim, but one so fittingly linked to home for Smyrk and her winsome sonic ways.
Able to effortlessly evoke stories from every corner of the globe with delicate restraint, Anna Smyrk follows in the footsteps of the iconic Aussie storytellers before her, provoking hope and thoughtful rumination that quietly takes your breath away.
ANNA SMYRK'S BRAND NEW EP SWIM IS PREMIERING RIGHT NOW ON THE SOUNDCHEK, YOU CAN GO AND GRAB AN EXCLUSIVE LISTEN BELOW - AND BE SURE TO CATCH HER LAUNCHING HER EP OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS. TOUR INFO ALSO BELOW, PLUS FOR MORE ANNA SMYRK INFO, HEAD HERE.
ANNA SMYRK SWIM EP TOUR DATES
Tablelands Folk Festival - Yungaburra, QLD
Oct 25-27, 2019
The Lost Ones - Ballarat, VIC
Nov 16th, 2019
Macedon Railway Hotel - Macedon, VIC
Nov 22nd, 2019
Spotted Mallard - Melbourne, VIC
Nov 27th, 2019
Illawarra Folk Festival - NSW
Jan 16-19, 2019
Newstead Live Music Festival - VIC
Jan 26-27, 2020
Terang Live - VIC
Feb 6th, 2020
Wheatsheaf Hotel - Adelaide, SA
Feb 7th, 2020
Stone Pony - Adelaide, SA
Feb 8th, 2020
BY TIANA SPETER