Since beginning her journey as an independent artist, Australian singer-songwriter Ally Palmer has looked to expand the bounds of her craft into new areas and her new album Take Me To The Water, released today, has done just that.
Weaving her love and knack for folk-soul-jazz storytelling, Take Me To The Water is an exploration of friendship, loss and life, sonically persuaded by a life spent admiring artists including Norah Jones and Leon Bridges.
Showcasing her talents as a keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist and intentional writer, Take Me To The Water is devout in its raw honesty and vulnerability, as Ally tackles concepts of grief, acceptance, joy and everything in between, over the course of 10-tracks.
To celebrate the release of Take Me To The Water, Marx Music had the pleasure of catching up with Ally Palmer to discuss the album, water as a motif, her development as an artist over the years and delving into heavier themes through uplifting soundscapes.
Marx Music: Ally, congratulations on the release of Take Me To The Water, your second album since you became an independent artist. How does it feel to be releasing this personal body of work?
Ally: It feels really good, I feel really proud of myself. I wrote the music that I really wanted to make and I feel like it really shows me as a person. It feels exciting and it feels authentic.
MM: You tackle a lot of emotional landscapes within this album such as grief and loss, but you also package it up in this really beautiful, upbeat way. How do you find that balance?
Ally: I like to listen to music that is quite kind of heavy, but it's sort of in a way that’s uplifting as well and so I think that's sort of what came through. I love that kind of heaviness too, when it's more lyrically heavy, but the music actually lifts you up and makes you feel really good.
Having played piano through her school years, Ally grew to become a keyboardist playing for bands on tour across Australia, before she made the jump to become an independent solo artist herself.
Ally: I was always looking at the frontperson like ‘wow that looks really fun’ and ‘that would be a really cool thing to try one day’ and I decided I wanted to push myself to be a front person and have my own music out there.
MM: That was in around 2016 wasn’t it? What was the experience like, from dreaming of doing it, to making the leap to become an independent artist?
Ally: It was really daunting because I was just sort of jumping into it but I knew I wanted to do it. But I was so fresh and young, so it was really scary, but I'm so glad I started because it is such a journey. When you start writing your first songs and then hearing the development of your songwriting, it makes me inspired to keep going and to see what other sounds I want to create.
MM: What are the biggest differences you notice in how you’ve developed as an artist over the years?
Ally: In my songwriting, it's definitely being more real in the lyrics. This latest album, I think my goal was to share a bit more of myself in the lyrics, or something that I've been through and be a bit more open.
While the combination of 'Australian,' 'surfer,' and 'musician' might typically evoke the laidback sounds of an ocean-rock band, Ally charts her own course and has carved a style unique to her. Grounded in her historical love of the keyboard, her music blends genres and nods at her passion for surfing and coastal life, with the ocean playing a powerful role in Take Me To The Water, through water-themed motifs which flow throughout her songwriting, tying the project together like a current beneath the surface.
MM: Being a surfer, you've no doubt got that innate sort of connection to the outdoors and enjoying the ocean and I've noticed some threads between your first album Need You Around and Take Me To The Water, where there is a metaphor of water used throughout each body of work. How does your connection to the ocean play into your music creation?
Ally: I do get inspiration from the ocean, so it comes through my songwriting quite a lot. That's where I go to feel refreshed and get inspiration and ideas for songs. It's just something that's always been with me and that I go back to all the time.
MM: If you were to take your new album and compare it to a body of water, what would it be? More of a raging river, a quiet, peaceful lake or how would you embody it?
"Oh, I think it would be a sort of a peaceful, ocean, sunset with some nice rolling waves coming in.
MM: Looking to your two albums again, Need You Around ends with Keep The Light On and Take Me To The Water’s penultimate track is Stars Align. So beyond that thread of water which connects the two albums, there is also a reference of light leading you, almost lighting the metaphorical path. Was this an intentional thread?
Ally: True! I've never considered those songs together, but yeah, I like to write songs as a sort of reminder for me to keep pushing and keep following my dreams and so I guess they're more written for me and for other people, to be a reminder not to stop going for your goals, somehow they just blend in together.
Reflecting on her own personal favourite song within the album, is namesake track, Take Me to the Water, which eventuated to become two separate tracks, with the outro now holding fourth spot in the tracklist.
Ally: I feel like that's the song where I've said exactly what I wanted to say and what I was feeling in the lyrics and I love the instrumentals; the sound of the song. The outro was blended in together and was originally with the first part of Take Me to the Water and then when we were recording, it just felt so different. So I decided to make it its own track, but I really like it, because the first part is just so heavy; like a release from the heaviness of the grief.
MM: I also think by doing that, separating the two songs into their own tracks, it kind of promotes more longform listening, consuming albums in their entirety, which I think is something that people are doing less often, unless they're making a conscious effort to do so.
With a penchant for storytelling, Ally’s collation of the new album’s tracklist is wholly intentional, with the aim of encouraging listeners to enjoy it in its entirety. Commencing with Apple of My Eye, Ally’s new album takes listeners on a journey, moving from romantic messages, onto tracks such as Old Friend which delves into the tides of friendship, later leading into the title track and its outro which tip the scales into a darker and moodier soundscape. A Change is Coming Soon, positioned at the album’s centre follows this thread, channelling a sound reminiscent of Massive Attack. I Wish takes form as longing and wanting, with Never Stop Loving You tying this theme into the final stage of acceptance and looking forward, brought alive by final tracks Let the River, Stars Align and Coming Back.
Ally: When I was putting all the tracks together, I always have in my head, the concept of listening from front to back, because I am a lover of albums. I know people don't usually do that that much anymore, but I still do and I love the flow of starting off like quite soulful and then moving into a folkier sound towards the end.
MM: Is there anything about this collection of work that you think fans would be really surprised by and that is a key takeaway for them?
"I'm excited for people to hear the heavier songs like A Change is Coming Soon and Take Me to the Water, because I feel like I write quite fun, sunny, pop songs and so I'm excited to share that darker side, it's different from what I usually do."
- Ally
Shaped by the fluidity of folk, soul, and jazz, Take Me To The Water is a deeply personal collection of songs. Among them, is tribute track ‘Never Stop Loving You, a heartfelt ode to her late grandmother, steeped in the timelessness of jazz greats such as Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald.
Expressive, explorative and cathartic, Ally Palmer’s newest body of work is an exciting follow up to her earlier releases, demonstrating her development as an artist and is available to listen now.
