- The songs created by Angharad Drake have always had an ethereal quality to them. She’s just released her first new music in a couple of years, having moved from Brisbane back to the Sunshine Coast region where she first started out, and also had her first child. If anything, Angharad Drake has added an extra waft of etherealness via the simple act of stripping things back even further.
Drake’s music has always been tilted towards the mostly acoustic, mainly minimalist - relying on atmosphere, melody, word themes and a pure and evocative voice. The songs on this latest EP, called Better Grow Up are not a million miles from the tunes on Ghost, her 2017 album. Having said that, they’re still a move on from her previous material.
Being from the Sunshine Coast, it’s hard not to draw some comparisons to other talented female singers from that region like Sahara Beck or Ayla, who also started producing beautifully sung music from very early ages. Although perhaps McKisko -another south-east Queensland singer of ethereal folk tunes- is the closest in style.
The EP’s first single Start Again is a wistful, nostalgic and regretful thing, but it’s also infused with a gentle, realistic positivity, rather than soaked in sugar-coated sappiness. Check out all four songs on Better Grow Up for some simple but soothing and satisfying salving of your synapses.
There’s no obscure, over-clever multi-metaphored lyrical wordplay in Angharad Drake’s songs, or experimental creation of a yet to be named pre-post genre of musical styles displayed. Instead you get the fulfilling reminder that uncomplicated reflections on human existence, provided via a beautiful voice, wrapped in simple tunes, can still be a compelling and captivating listening experience.
- Andrew Bartlett.