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MUSIC FEATURE

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caught in the thoughts of what I could've done better or differently. I definitely feel more at peace with it all than ever before. Others' perceptions are mattering less, which is freeing! Not that I've ever been chasing success or approval – I would have done things very differently, and taken a lot more opportunities up when they were offered, if I was. I think the more honest I am in my writing the more people will understand me, and perhaps take me for more than a cartoon cut out – see a few more layers, maybe. You play with a sort of yodel-flick in your voice within the charming Oh My Goddess! and Words LikeThese – are you still exploring new things your voice can do, and does it ever surprise you? Yes! Thank God. After being around this long – ahem, I mean – after being blessed with such a long career, I can get very sick of my own voice, my tone. So I try and push it into new places. I also love to record on a cold, just because even though it's hard work, it drastically changes the tone! (Bob Dylan did this too, so I'm in good company!) However, I remember a lot of people saying I yodelled in (1999 Killing Heidi single) Weir. .. so maybe I've been doing it all along! Long Gully Road is so evocative – it’s a masterclass in conjuring visuals (and bodily feelings!) of a specific location – even though most listeners may never have been toViolet Town. Do you feel you succeeded in capturing the feeling you set out to find in the creation of this song? Well thanks so much! And, yes! A rare win of the intention matching the outcome – a songwriter’s dream result! I do think this song is transportive; it sends me there to the view I had of the sun going down across the hills, painting them orange and gold and hazy purple, every time. I also notice the band members, when we play it live, go into a bit of a trance! They say it's their favourite too. This one came to me line by line, and I decided to keep it simple and not fuss with it too much – let it be simple, as that is the calm, expansive feeling that that vista evokes in me! I'm so glad it works on others...

HOW ELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK

Small Town Temple by Ella Hooper is out now via Reckless Records.

ELLA HOOPER couldn't have known that both of her parents would pass halfway through the creation of her superb new album – but their presences manifest in sonics and soul across the former Killing Heidi singer-songwriter's ode to Violet Town, the place she grew up and to which her heart always returns. She answered our questions about the gorgeously arranged and lyrically stunning Small TownTemple. Words Zoë Radas

roof! She knew every song backwards. And she sings on heaps of them, even though she was unwell. What a trooper. We were singing up until the day she died. She's why I sing. I love her voice so much. And that's the garden fountain going in the background, but we're beside a creek too, so there could be some frogs coming in from there. Old News is a super candid, reflective little portrait of your own position in and stage of your career, and life. Do you ever have any one united feeling about your beginnings in music, and how they’ve come to shape others’ perceptions of you? Hmm... to be honest I think it's in constant flux. Some days I'm proud, some days I'm

Where was the album’s opening lullaby ( Intro ) recorded, with its murmuring water sounds? And… how did you decide that this little snippet of your late mum should open the record? That was pretty special. We were just sitting on the porch where we always do, at her home, which is the small town temple itself: a big old weatherboard church. I was living with her and we had plans to do a big, harmony laden, almost gospel version of the intro. But I realised that's not very 'humble', and the most authentic thing would be just Mum – with her beautiful earthy timbre – a capella. So I held out my iPhone, used Voice Memo, and she sang it. She knew it well 'cause I'd been crafting the whole album for about a year under her

Continue reading the full interview online at stack.com.au

FEBRUARY 2023

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