Almost a year on from the release of their 'Emerald' EP, Perth electronic duo Feels are in the running for three WAMAwards, including Best EP.
Feels is a collaboration between Elise Reitze and Rosie Taylor, both classically-trained percussionists who have parlayed their compositional skills into electronic production.
As well as Best EP, Feels have also been nominated for WAMAwards (which is part of WAMFest) in the categories of Best Electronic Producer and Best Live Electronic Act. “We would be so over the moon to win Best Live Electronic Act,” Rosie says.
“Our live act we've always had at the forefront of our minds; it's not just about the writing for us because first and foremost we're performers, so our set has changed so much over the past year and we've been non-stop thinking about how we can progress the set and where we can make it better.
"We would be happy with any awards, but that one in particular is close to our hearts.”
This year has seen Feels release a series of singles, including 'They Need Us' with WA darling Stella Donnelly, a song that highlights the importance and value of women in the music industry.
“We always wanted to work with Stella, even from ages back when Rosie used to play with her in another band,” Elise says.
“So we always had the intention of doing that, and for the topic we were discussing with that song Stella was the perfect voice for articulating that to the wider public, especially because the music she writes and releases is already tackling some of those messages that we feel very strongly about as well.”
Elise and Rosie are also nominated for a fourth WAM Award in 2018, Label Of The Year, not for their music per se but for the work they do with the organisation they formed last year Women Of Music Production Perth (WOMPP).
WOMPP is an Ableton community, booking agency and record label that supports women, trans and non-binary artists through production workshops, training and promotion.
“What we've seen is the support of WOMPP encouraging new artists to have a go at producing themselves,” Elise says.
“We've seen a lot of female, trans and non-binary electronic artists hit the scene in the past year and a half, and we've seen more artists that play acoustic instruments have a go at producing for themselves.
“The numbers at the moment internationally is less than five per cent of all electronic producers are female, so we've seen just in Perth that shift has changed enormously.”
Things aren't slowing down for Feels any time soon with them presenting a TEDxPerth talk about the success of WOMPP, showcasing at Sydney Electronic Music Conference and supporting dance music heavyweights Orbital.
On top of all this, Feels have just released another two singles ('Assemble (feat. ZĀN)' and 'Binary Bounce') before starting work on their debut full-length album, which Elise says they hope to release in the second half of 2019.
“We have a single launch in December,” Elise reveals. “We're actually releasing two singles, an A-B release, then next year we will be doing a national tour for our debut album.”
