New girl on the block Everie will release her debut EP, 'Emotionally Available' on 5 August.
Coming from a background in musical theatre, Erin Clare – who goes by the name Everie – will unveil the project at Ginger's At The Oxford Hotel.
Working on the EP alongside producer Sam Lloyd and Johnann ’Yogi’ Willenberg, Everie admits this record has been a long time in the making.
“Without sounding like a wanker, it feels like the best and the truest thing I’ve ever done,” she says.
“After spending a lot of time doing different things, and wondering why I always felt restless, coming back to songwriting was natural.”
Everie hails the producer of her EP Sam Lloyd as a genius kid. He's worked alongside Amastro, Jordan De La Crus and Clypso. “He can make anything that is in your head happen”, she says. “The instructions I’ve given have been like, 'this needs to sounds like two pieces of concrete smashing together', and he’s made it happen.”
Johann 'Yogi' Willenberg, who has worked alongside Flight Facilities, Yolanda Be Cool and Random Soul, was originally only involved in two of the songs, but ended up mixed the whole EP.
“The opportunity came up really amazingly with him, because he wasn’t supposed to be mixing the record,” Everie tells. After finding himself in tears upon hearing Everie sing, Yogi asked for the opportunity to mix the rest of the project.
Image © John Marmaras
Describing her new work as moody electronica, with atmospheric, ethereal vocals, Everie says 'Emotionally Available' came from drawing upon her own experiences.
“It was an idea I’ve had for a long time. It’s about the multifaceted ways you can look at your own disfunction,” she explains. “Everything on this EP is really personal and I just write better and naturally when I’m writing about things I’ve experienced.”
“It started off with things I was feeling on tour, expressing trigger points and a collection of other stories and drawing upon stuff that has happened in my life over the last few years. A lot of the song ideas started with poems, which isn’t a way I’ve written before.”
After touring with musicals and being away from her piano, Everie says she would sneak into rooms with pianos while on tour and just start writing.
“I would get an idea and have to get it out. It’s like I would have to put it to music immediately!”
When asked how long it took to write the songs, Everie says it was pretty simple.
“It has been a really fast process, I wrote the bulk of it in about three weeks, but all together maybe six months. It was a long time coming and as soon as I started it, it was like I couldn’t stop.”
Everie plays 'Emotionally Available' live for the first time on 5 August (the same day it's released) at Ginger's, The Oxford Hotel in Sydney.
– written by Jorja Keay
