For WA indie-pop group Dulcie, 2019 has been a wild ride.
Only forming in mid-2018, the Dulcie girls have hit the ground running since the release of their debut single ‘Fall’ in January this year.
Dulcie showcased at BIGSOUND in Brisbane last month, and will be performing at WAMFest in early November. “It's been so amazing,” the group's guitarist/ vocalist Saskia Brittain says about their year so far.
“We've had a really, really fortunate year – we've been able to play some amazing shows around Australia. A big thank you to everyone who's made it possible, because we wouldn't be here if we didn't have the support from our friends and family. . . It's pretty unbelievable, especially when you're playing the shows you never thought you'd be able to play.”
With their ethereal three-part vocal harmonies, Dulcie’s signature vocal layering is what pricks up your ears with ‘Fall’ and the four-piece’s sophomore single, ‘Own Ground’.
Alongside Saskia in the band is bassist-vocalist Timieka Denton, keys-vocalist Ashleigh Carr-White and drummer Madison Hanley. “We work hard on our harmonies,” Saskia says.
“It was a bit hard at first, but then we cracked on and rehearsed. It's actually really cool we can all sing, it's really fun; we're hoping that our drummer Madi is going to come in with some four-part harmonies [laughs]. She can sing, but she's just a bit shy, so maybe that's something to look out for in the future.”
Performing at BIGSOUND is no small feat for such a new collective. “BIGSOUND was so amazing, we're so thankful to be able to go to. It was awesome. BIGSOUND gave us so many more opportunities, we met heaps and heaps of industry people and just the networking over there was awesome.
“The shows that we played were insane, we never thought we'd be playing on massive stages like that with some of our great friends from Perth, and some amazing acts from triple j Unearthed. It was so much fun, we're so happy.”
Dulcie have been nominated for Most Popular New Act and Most Popular Act at this year’s WAMAwards (winners will be revealed Thursday 31 October), which is part of the WAMFest celebrations. “Last year we played at WAMFest when we were just coming up, and we played on this small stage and no one was there,” Saskia says, “so we hope that this year it's going to be a bit bigger.
“We've got the outside stage now, one of the bigger stages, and I think we're playing close to the end so I think it's going to be such a good experience for us. The fact that we're playing Western Australian music at a festival is going to be awesome.”
Amid the whirlwind of 2019 that has seen Dulcie leap into the spotlight, the band are showing no signs of slowing down as they stride towards the new year, post-WAMFest. “So we've got a few things coming up,” enthuses Saskia.
“We're recording a new single and we are doing two music videos; so we're going to be releasing a music video for 'Fall' and we're also going to be releasing a new video for this new track that's coming out.
“We're [also] going into the studio in a couple of weeks and recording an EP for early next year. So we've got heaps and heaps of things coming up that we can't wait to get out.”
