Alice Skye brings her heartfelt songwriting to QAGOMA for the 'Air Up Late' series in March. "I'm super excited," Alice says.
"I remember hearing that they do gigs at the Gallery; I love the pairing of the venue and being able to play somewhere different."I feel like I haven't been to Brisbane in so long as well, it's one of my favourite cities to play in. Every time I go there, I'm like: 'I should just move here, it's so pretty, the weather is better than Melbourne, what am I doing?'"
The 'Air' exhibition showcases works from more than 30 significant Australian and overseas artists reflecting the vitality of our shared atmosphere.
For 'Air Up Late', Alice envisions a performance that complements the visual aspect of the exhibition to enhance the immersive experience for attendees.
"I haven't figured out the what the setup will be, if it's going to be a more intimate, stripped-back performance, which I've been doing more of recently," Alice muses.
"I can say there will be old stuff from [debut album] 'Friends With Feelings', there will be a lot of stuff from the most recent album and a couple from whatever the next project will be, because it's been fun to play new stuff and see how people respond to it."
Alice is planning to release new music in 2023, be it an album, EP or a collection of demoes. After releasing 'Friends With Feelings' in 2018, Alice followed up in 2021 with 'I Feel Better But I Don't Feel Good', which saw her take on a more collaborative approach to songwriting.
This time, in true Alice Skye style, she says whatever she releases next will be different yet again. "My band has changed over the past two years and what makes up the band has changed, which is cool," Alice says.
"But I think because of the pandemic I returned to that insular, isolated writing again, which was actually really nice to return to what songwriting was for me for so long – something I did by myself, for myself, to feel better about certain things that are happening.
"It was cool to go back to that and not be writing for any particular reason, which I think takes the pressure off and means that I now have so many songs and I feel like I have the opportunity to sift through them and find the ones I love."
The 'Air Up Late' series runs over two nights, with Alice Skye, Clea and DJ nejmere (Friday) followed by Camp Cope, Melaleuca, Special Features and DJ Sonia Cougar (Saturday).
With a new batch of songs to try out before she records them, Alice is excited to see how audiences respond at 'Air Up Late'. "I feel like if I write something I really like, I want to play it immediately and see what people think," Alice says.
"Also, I feel like songs evolve and grow more when you're playing them live. They take on their own form. I feel the final result I get with the recording may not be the same if I hadn't played them live. It's good to get a vibe-check from the room, a test audience."
Alice Skye performs as part of 'Air Up Late' at QAGOMA 17 March. Camp Cope plays the same series, same venue 18 March. Alice also joins Emma Donovan & The Putbacks at Light It Up at Outback River Lights Festival (Cunnamulla) 15 April as part of 2023 QLD Music Trails.
