On ‘Perennial’, listeners take a walk through the garden of Vera Blue’s heart.
Your tour starts during a bitter winter of heartbreak, with leaves stripped bare and branches exposed, and ends at the dawn of spring as fledgling blossoms signal the start of renewal. After a series of EPs, her debut album finds her in full bloom as an artist.
When conversing with Celia Pavey, the artist behind Vera Blue, one word is predominant in her expression: feel. Like most great artists, she is devoid of a shell or protective casing; this allows her to feel everything in rich detail, leaving her particularly sensitive to the pains of a broken relationship.
On ‘Perennial’, Celia has embraced this aspect of her personality. “I think I’ve really learnt through this record to acknowledge my vulnerability and to acknowledge that I wear my heart on my sleeve and that’s ok.
“The album has so many different up and downs and really acknowledges vulnerability, and acknowledging that feelings and emotions and memories will always come back; they’ll come and go.”
The songs she has written with collaborators Andy and Thom Mak (a songwriting team with Boy & Bear, Gossling and Silverchair song credits) are fearlessly autobiographical.
On 'Said Goodbye To', a folk infused, mid-album track, she sings about losing her relationship with the mother of her ex, lamenting that “she always treated me like a daughter, she doesn’t know why it’s over”. Her lyrics are laden with content that some may consider taboo, but she says it was a conscious decision to delve into that unspoken territory.
“The album definitely talks about so many things that artists and people feel like they can’t talk about in their music, perhaps because they think they shouldn’t. But that’s definitely something that with this album we’ve had no fear and there’s really a sense of honesty.”
Celia began as a folk artist, but then made a deliberate departure into electronica. On ‘Perennial’ and with the help of the Maks, she has seamlessly synthesized those two worlds. “We’ve developed a really strong relationship that’s based purely on feeling, purely on emotion and what I’m going through so we’re always going to have that folky element because that’s where I came from.
“I grew up in the country and I have that organic part of me that’s never going to leave, but having the electronic music blended with the acoustic music is just the wildest kind of sound and just makes me feel so much more.”
Songs like 'Regular Touch' and 'Lady Powers' are pure dance (both are dormant smash hits that are ready to be unleashed) though they are empowered bangers akin to Lorde’s 'Green Light'.
As she awaits a global album launch, Celia relies upon a glamorous and accomplished support network. “I recently caught up with two of my girlfriends in America last week, Emma Louise and Montaigne, and they’re both in the writing process at the moment, and they’re like 'losing their minds in the album creating process'. But that’s all part of it.
“We get our heads in the album and create, create, create. I’m at the other end about to release something, which is quite a different feeling; I feel like I’m holding something back that I just want to let out and let people feel what I’m feeling and make it their own story.”
‘Perennial’ is available now.
Vera Blue Shows
Fri 28 Jul - The Academy (Canberra)Sat 29 Jul - Metro Theatre (Sydney)
Fri 4 Aug - The Gov (Adelaide)
Sat 5 Aug - Metro City (Perth)
Tue 8 Aug - Tap House (Bendigo)
Wed 9 Aug - Grand Hotel (Mornington)
Fri 11 Aug - 170 Russell (Melbourne)
Sat 12 Aug - The Wool Exchange (Geelong)
Fri 25 Aug - The Triffid (Brisbane)
Sat 26 Aug - The Mills Precinct (Toowoomba)
Sun 27 Aug - Miami Marketta (Gold Coast)
Thu 31 Aug - UOW Uni Bar (Wollongong)
Fri 1 Sep - Mountain Sounds @ The Beery (Central Coast)
Sat 2 Sep - Metro Theatre (Sydney)
Fri 8 Sep - Bar On The Hill (Callaghan)
Sat 9 Sep - Odeon Theatre (Hobart)
Sun 10 Sep - 170 Russell (Melbourne)
