There's no doubt that Australia will be seeing more of self-described 'universal little sister' Alice Skye, this year's winner of triple j's Unearthed National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMA) comp.
Hailing from Horsham in Victoria, just north-west of the idyllic Grampians National Park, the 23-year-old Wergaia woman is still buzzing with the glow of her NIMA win. “I didn't think we'd be playing, let alone even going to attend, so it was pretty cool,” she says. “But I'm really thankful, I'm just so thankful that we got to go.”
With previous Unearthed NIMA winners including the likes of Thelma Plum and Baker Boy, Alice has large boots to fill – but the young artist isn't going to rush it. “I take things as they come really. If I could pave the way like Thelma Plum and Baker Boy and previous winners have done, then I mean there are absolutely no complaints from me.”
Alice has only recently moved to bustling Melbourne, a far cry from the sandstone mountains near her home town. “I don't think my environment makes much of a difference [to my music] because I spend a lot of time in my head. So it's more about what is going on in my head than around me.”
Alice admits, however, that she draws her material from her direct environment and is largely influenced by the people that she is around. “So I guess just in that, having all these different things around me and people, just different problems and like – I don't know. I think that makes the biggest difference.”
This year has also seen the release of her debut album, 'Friends With Feelings', which has received heavy airplay from local and national radio stations. “The songs on the album were quite old for me, some of them were written when I was 17 through to when I was about 20,” Alice says.
“I am 23 now, so it feels like quite an old version of myself, and while it wasn't that long ago I feel like you change a lot, especially in your early 20s, when you're learning a lot about yourself. So it's really interesting for it to come out now, when I'm in a different mindset.
"But yeah the recording process was just like a dream, spending four weeks in Alice Springs, around people that loved music and were helping me record mine, so I feel really, really lucky.”
As if 2018 couldn't get any bigger for Alice, she also recorded a collaborative track for NAIDOC week with Ziggy Ramo and Trials. “[It was] the first collaboration I'd ever done before with anybody, so I was really, really nervous,” she admits.
“I'm also quite an anxious person when it comes to meeting new people, so that was two things that were like 'oh, I don't know if I can do this or not'.
“But I met up with Ziggy and we just talked for ages, and we are really similar people going through a lot of similar things, so it was actually really effortless. Working with Trials was really easy; we mainly did that via email but he is just so good at what he does. It was a really, really good experience.”
With 2018 already rapidly coming to a close, the singer is now gearing up for what is sure to be an equally eventful 2019, which will include playing alongside the legendary Sixto Rodriguez and Pierce Brothers at A Day On The Green.
Proving the glow still hasn't worn off, she said she is still getting used to the idea of playing such a massive show. “There's a poster for it on the side of where I live, and that's just a really weird experience.”
Alice Skye Tour 2018
Sat 1 Sep - Melbourne Writers FestivalTue 4 Sep - BIGSOUND showcase (Brisbane)
Thu 11 Oct - The Gasometer Hotel (Melbourne)
A Day On The Green 2019
Sat 9 Feb - Sirromet Wines (Brisbane)Sat 16 Feb - Rochford Wines (Yarra Valley)
Sat 23 Feb - Peter Lehmann Wines (Barossa Valley)
