Folk Bitch Trio are a group of high school friends from Australia who started singing together in 2020 releasing a handful of singles since then and touring globally among others with King Gizzard and Julia Jacklin. They have honed their sound (Indie-Folk, Americana) on the road then collectively wrote the songs for their debut album Now Would be a Good Time to be released on the Jagjaguwar label. They have been gaining attention and acclaim from other musicians and a growing number of fans along the way. The closeness of their friendship is at the heart of this collection of songs allowing them to create something wonderful.
The band consists of Heidi Peverelle, Jeanie Pilkington and Gracie Sinclair sharing vocal duties with their harmonies on these well-crafted songs. They describe their decision to record to tape rather than digital as being integral to creating this record and it shows creating crisp, warm and clear vocals. The understated music allows the listener to focus on the lyrics giving space for the songs to breathe.
Their music evokes feelings of dislocation and loss using dark humour to explore relationships ending, being on the road and being young and alive in these fractured times. There are echoes of other bands including The Staves, Laura Marling and Mercury Rev (on ‘Foreign Bird’) but they have forged their own sound. The songs are hopeful missives released into the wild searching for fellow travellers like all the best roots music is.
On ‘God’s a different sword’ they create a soothing, soaring and restless sound that recalls Laura Marling’s Once I Was an Eagle album. The song has a confessional, night-slipping-into-early-morning, hazy feeling which sets the tone for the album. Other songs explore infidelity- whether imagined about someone other than your partner or real as on ‘Hotel TV’ – unrequited love on’ Moth Song’ and loneliness while touring on ‘Mary’s Playing the Harp’. On ‘Cathode Ray’-a song about anxieties- they sing “Show me what it looks like when you’ve come undone”. The songs have a tension within them as if they are teetering on the edge of falling apart like the subjects being described in them but holding it together finding strength and humour in the situations.
Whatever their ambitions were when they started making music together, they have already made a beautiful collection of songs which deserves the accolades they’ve gathered so far. As they sing on’ Mary’s Playing the Harp’ – “We’re 14 shows down, got 10 more to go...” their friendship and humour will be needed as the word spreads and their fanbase grows.
Folk Bitch Trio: Website | Instagram
Folk Bitch Trio will be touring the UK in August:
August 17th- Green Man Festival
August 18th- Brudnell Social Club (Leeds)
August 20th- King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut (Glasgow)
August 22nd – Whelan’s (Dublin)
August 23rd YES – (Manchester)
August 24th – All Points East Festival (London)
August 26th – The Lexington (London)
Review by Jason McDonald
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