After the stripped-back, piano-driven arrangements of her album 'Shyness', singer-songwriter Angie is back to rocking on her latest record 'The Underling'.
Released at the end of May, 'The Underling' is Angie's fourth album and her return to exploring the various dimensions of rock & roll following 2017 record 'Shyness'. “I felt pretty captivated by the piano album because I feel it suited my personality a little bit more,” Angie says.
“But playing it live is a bit intense to do all the time, so I knew that I always wanted to go back to playing guitar because I found it really hard playing shows; I couldn't hear what I was doing because people were talking.
“I like the power of electric instruments, so I always knew that I would go back to electric instruments; I'm not sure for how long, but I definitely wanted to make an album full of hit rock songs. I feel like I did that.”
An artist that's hard to pin down stylistically, even by her own standards, Angie can seamlessly transition from loud, uptempo rock to soft, delicate arrangements and back again as she desires.
Having worked with bands such as Circle Pit, Southern Comfort and Ruined Fortune, Angie set out as a solo artist in 2013, although that was never really her plan. “I never wanted to start a solo project,” she admits.
“I never planned to do it, it just kind of happened because I ended up having disagreements with everyone I was in bands with, so I either had to stop playing music altogether or make solo music.
“So it wasn't something I was really happy about doing or comfortable with at the beginning, but I had all these intense emotions in my songs that I didn't want to just play in my bedroom to myself – they were quite emotionally intense and I was very possessed by them, I guess you could say.”
If anything, you could accuse Angie of being an incurable creative. Though you'd be hard-pressed in finding a court to convict her. In her six years as a solo artist, Angie has plumbed the depths of her soul across four albums, driven by an inexplicable need to create.
“I would say I really like making a statement and making a legacy, so the desire to create something that will outlive you just trumps everything else like your insecurities or feeling silly about doing something by yourself that could potentially be really embarrassing or career-destroying,” she says.
“That’s why I've kept going because it’s such an intellectual and, dare I say, physical challenge because making this record was a physical challenge – it was on the other side of the world, I was lost, afraid and poor; I experienced the whole gamut of emotion for a creator, but it was worth it because it was an incendiary experience.”
With a launch tour in August for 'The Underling', not even Angie is sure what comes next for her solo career.
“I don’t know how long I'll do it for because I've already made four albums that I really love and I feel like I've said a lot and I've worked a lot on it, so I don’t know if I have that much left in me. I can really see myself moving into more compositional forms, like what I did for 'Shyness'.”
'The Underling' is out now.
Angie 2019 Tour Dates
Fri 16 Aug - Petersham Bowling Club (Sydney)Sat 24 Aug - The Bearded Lady (Brisbane)
Sun 25 Aug - Alchemix Gallery, solo piano show (Brisbane)
Tue 24 Sep - The Tote (Melbourne)
