As a country, we tend to lose a lot of our best talent to Australia and the US, and Lisa Crawley is no exception. Currently Melbourne-based, the songstress has recently released Up In The Air, a collection of retro-pop songs citing the production and mixing skills of Ryan Ritchie (Kimbra).
The collection opens with the title-named piece, a dramatic, yet somehow suave and slightly dreamy morsel that boasts the decidedly salty lyric “I’ll be your waitress, be your mistress, oh how I’ve missed this” and the assortment progresses fluidly from there. With an overarching cohesiveness in tone and a sense of sombreness that somehow does not dip into the waters of self-indulgent, the EP is a very succinct collection, featuring four songs written within the last twelve months, as well as one of Crawley’s rediscovered demos, Mayday, from 2007.
There is a masterful simplicity in the writing whereby everything that needs to be said lyrically, to create a resonant mental picture is there, but nothing is over-explained. Showgirl is a particularly great example of this, vividly painting the story without elucidating beyond what is needed; “I’ve been working nights since I was barely 17, with a fake ID”.
The Up In The Air EP is a brilliant wee collection of songs, and I for one hope that there is more to follow very soon.
Indie-pop chanteuse Lisa Crawley has been immersed in music since the age of four.
Numerous albums, EPs and singles later, her refreshingly honest onstage presence and
emotionally authentic pop songs enchant the hearts and minds of an ever-growing
global audience.