Adelaide-born artist effie isobel has spent her musical career exploring genres and music as a vehicle for storytelling. Now, she is celebrating the release of her newest single Higher Gear, a captivating listen born at the intersection of control, vulnerability and romance.
With Higher Gear now released into the wild, effie reflects on the balance between bravery and vulnerability as a motivator for her creativity and craft.
effie isobel: This song really means a lot to me, so I'm excited to have it out in the world, but also spooked. It feels scary to be vulnerable, but I suppose nothing is worth doing if you’re not vulnerable too. I have felt this way about previous releases, like my single Moon Made. I felt that way about that song as it is a little bit dark and that felt vulnerable to be sharing that part of myself, but this song in particular is quite candid.
Effie’s latest track is, in her own words, about ‘having a big fat crush’ - a realisation she came to while performing a run of shows where two worlds collided.
effie: I played these shows with this person and we'd been friends for a long time. We'd been seeing each other around a lot for years and years and we ended up on a lineup together. Then something switched and you can’t unsee that person in that way. I started crushing hard at the show and I remember playing my set and getting off stage, being at the back of the gig with my dad. Suddenly I was just like ‘oh ok… I've got a crush’. I ended up writing this song very quickly during the week after that.
When her drummer fell ill on the day of recording, effie made a bold, fated decision to invite her crush, the very muse of Higher Gear, to cover their place. This spontaneous decision not only shaped the song, but the start of their relationship.
Marx Music: It’s very romantic when you think about it. Do you think you manifested that in a way?
effie: I have a close friend who always says songs are spells and I was like, ‘yeah, this feels like a spell.’
For effie, creativity is shaped by intention and manifestation, as much as it is about the music itself. Inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel Big Magic, she sees creativity and ideas as opportunities existing outside of ourselves, waiting to be caught by the right person and the right moment.
effie: We're more powerful than we give ourselves credit for. When you feel inspired, that's an opportunity to catch that idea, otherwise, it'll move on. That is such a big thing for me, I need to ride this wave, feel what I'm feeling right now and write about it. By honoring that, you end up with something really genuine, which is valuable.
This fresh take and candid approach finds itself embedded through effie’s music, often incorporating voice memos from friends within her songs.
effie: For Higher Gear, I asked friends to send a voice memo answering: “if you saw someone at a bar you had a crush on, what would you say to them?” I will always include a voice memo in my music, I just love it so much, but also I think I just love to have the voices of my friends in my music
Sonically, Higher Gear reflects the impatience and excitement that comes with a new crush, through punchy lyrics and a high-energy structure of gritty guitar and synth. Casting aside previous proclamations of being a people pleaser, Higher Gear is an anthem which encourages taking bold steps in love and life, guided by her favoured genres of bubble grunge and dreamy pop textures.
MM: Higher Gear goes against that former self-description completely because it's all about you taking charge and saying ‘hey let's take this next step’, even in the way that the tempo change comes in, it's like a deliberate kind of change or shift. That's a huge change to make, was it a natural evolution or a conscious decision?
I am on a natural journey of stepping away from being a people pleaser, which now that you mention it, is being reflected in my music. There are another couple of songs that I've been kind of working on recently that also reflect that, which is a special thing.
- effie
No stranger to reinvention, effie loves the freedom of being able to express herself broadly and looks to her music videos as outlets for transformation.
MM: There's so much artistry that goes into music videos and this is very true of your past work. So, when you consider the music video that you might look to create for Higher Gear, what sort of shape do you see that taking?
effie: I love to reinvent myself, not just as a human being, but also just as an artist. I feel really empowered in the freedom to do that at any possible time. There's a lyric in the song that goes
Horseshoe around my neck, babe I feel lucky. Do you want to be more than friends?
I always wear a horseshoe and I'm very much into good luck charms. So if we did something, perhaps very softly cowgirl aligned, I feel like there's something kind of cheeky and high energy in that.
With a new single freshly released and still reeling from the success of her previous projects including winning Best Music Video for Moon Made at the South Australia Music Awards, effie is carving her place within the Australian music landscape.
A celebration of taking risks, trusting yourself and jumping at opportunities, effie isobel’s Higher Gear embraces vulnerability through gritty dream pop stylings. Channeling real-life moments of magic, effie’s new single is heartfelt, playful and empowering and available for you ears here:
