With the help of a grant awarded by Creative Victoria, Melbourne country-blues singer-songwriter Freya Josephine Hollick will be recording her next album in Joshua Tree in California with some of her musical heroes.
“We head off at the end of February and we're recording with Lucinda Williams' band Buick 6, which is very exciting because I grew up listening to Lucinda Williams,” Freya says.
“She's a massive musician in the kind of music that I play, and well-respected over in the States and everywhere in the world so I'm really looking forward to playing with her band.”
The Creative Victoria grant capped off a big 2018 for Freya, who released her second full-length album 'Feral Fusion' in August, a record that saw her exploring with increased confidence following her 2017 EP 'Don't Mess With The Doyenne'.
“'Don't Mess With The Doyenne' was closer to classic country with a bit of weirdness sprinkled through it,” she explains.
“For 'Feral Fusion', I went into the studio and I was really in two minds: I wanted to make something either really straight-down-the-line classic or get weird. It just felt better to get weird and use all the multiple influences of all the different music that I've grown up listening to, and really explore the stuff that I love to listen to and bring it into what I do.”
Freya says the songs for the new album were actually written prior to recording 'Feral Fusion', and that she's excited to see and hear what the members of Buick 6 bring to her compositions. “The new album will continue in the same vein as 'Feral Fusion', but it will also involve the creative input of Buick 6,” she says.
“They'll be responsible for blending in with what I'm doing, possibly taking it in a bit more of a rock direction.
“For me they bring a bit of a heavier sound to it, probably a bit of a darker atmospheric thing, and if you've heard any of Lucinda's more recent records... what they do is really great. She's a great poet and they create a wonderful, really brooding atmosphere; I'm hoping they will bring a bit of heaviness to what I do.”
Not long after she returns from Joshua Tree, Freya makes her debut at the beating heart of folk music in Australia, the National Folk Festival in Canberra. “I'm really looking forward to it actually,” Freya says.
“A lot of the guys that I play with have also played in bands that have toured up to the National Folk Festival to play, and they've always said what a great festival it is and that I should get up there to do some shows. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Folk Festival is all about.”
As Freya shifts towards incorporating heavier sounds and more rock elements in her music, she is unsure whether she's still classed as a folk musician but says she'll make it work nonetheless.
“The seed of all music is folk music anyway, but we might have to leave our electric instruments at home,” she laughs.
