After recently releasing her new single, 'Hold', Sunshine Coast act Dear Willow will play a Brisbane launch show next month.
The creative outlet for singer-songwriter Em-J, she is joined onstage by her band: Melinda Huurdman (lead guitar), Callan Holstein (drums) and Dean Genge (session bassist).
Since the release of her first single, 'Father's House', in 2015, Em-J has become known for her softer melodies. Now, the musician is excited to move into a rock sound with 'Hold' leading the transition. “'Hold' is more of a soft-rock song, but in our set we are definitely heading towards a bigger, rockier sound,” she says.
“I wanted to introduce that softly, because people really enjoy where I've come from with the soft, acoustic sounds so I didn’t want to shatter everyone's dreams of that.
“We have been jamming away in the garage and getting our brand new set together. This year our set is quite different to what it's been. It's bigger and a lot more energetic. I think it's truer to how our sound is now.”
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The single initially came together due to various societal pressures that Em-J was experiencing. “I was having a bit of frustration about feeling like I needed to keep releasing music when I wasn’t quite ready to. I felt a bit of FOMO. Everyone around me was moving, but I wasn’t moving at the same pace.
“[I was] feeling that push and pull in music, but also in life as well. There is a bit of an expectation to reach certain milestones at certain times when that's not the way it should be.”
'Hold' is the first single of Dear Willow's upcoming debut EP, which she is aiming to release by mid-September. “[The EP] is a catalogue of music that I have been working on over the last four to five years. I've never put out a compilation before, so this is almost like a back catalogue of songs - a couple of new and old ones,” Em-J explains.
“[Fans] can expect a pretty well rounded taste of the sound that I've come from and that I'm going towards. We will be putting out a second single either late July or early August, depending on when the final mix is finished.”
With a stream of shows set for Brisbane in July and August leading up to the release, Em- J says she's very excited to hit the stage.
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“When we are onstage and when I can glance over to Melinda and Callan and see we are all really in sync and enjoying what we are doing, it really warms my heart and makes me so happy.”
“I feel like people can nod along to our stuff and groove along with us, but there is also an element in our shows where people can listen to the stories in the songs.”
