In My Blood arrives hot on the heels of Georgia’s previously released singles: Tigress, Persuasion, Holding My Hands Out and Find Your Way Back – each track offering a unique insight into the forthcoming album’s bold melodics, visceral arrangements, and intimate yet assured vocal delivery. In My Blood invites the listener into a world of sonic beauty, while also grappling with themes of addiction, trauma and recovery. Conceived against the backdrop of Melbourne’s claustrophobic lockdowns and the collective anxiety of the global pandemic, Georgia elaborates: 

“I wrote In My Blood during the 2020 lockdowns. A few months prior to the pandemic, I had been diagnosed with acute postnatal depression and anxiety which saw me struggle to leave the house. Trapped in my own home like a lost sparrow in a shopping mall, I returned to some, let’s say, not-so-healthy coping strategies. Drinking too much. Eating too little. Wanting to numb some sensations, and make others painfully loud. I started to question these old habits. Is it nature? Is it nurture? Am I broken? Maybe it’s in my blood.”

Produced by Josh Barber, who has previously worked with the likes of Gotye and Gretta Ray, In My Blood is a riveting and raw journey, gloriously nuanced, showcasing Georgia’s razor-sharp songwriting craft as well as the symbiotic creative partnership between the pair, which spans the broader album.

“Collaborating with Josh was a dream, because because he brings a huge breadth of skills to the table. He’s a world-class drummer, a highly creative multi-instrumentalist, and a meticulous sound nerd. And like me, Josh has an appreciation for kooky sounds. We built the sonic world for In My Blood around the glitchy synth loop, incorporating live drums played with soft mallets, as well as a rusty old nylon string guitar, programmed beats, and a Juno HS60.”

From stories of motherhood, infidelity and death, to rapturous anthems of healing and home – at its core, Hiraeth is an ode to the many languages of longing.

Thanks to funding support from Australia Council for the Arts, Hiraeth was recorded over a 6-month period in Josh’s own studio – a 1930s converted church at the back of his rural property in Mollongghip, Victoria. Georgia and Josh performed almost all the instrumentation across the album, with Jules Pascoe (Jazz Party; Husky) contributing bass guitar, and the Andromeda String Quartet making an appearance on three tracks. 

Shadow and light, blood and water, are recurring motifs. Water to Water details Georgia’ experience of miscarriage with astonishing candour, inspired by Mizuko Kuyo – a Japanese buddhist ceremony to mourn deceased foetuses. How A Girl Becomes A Puddle is an evocative vignette of relationship breakdown, bristling with tin-pan percussion and gritty saxophones. When To Leave The Party is a love letter to a lost friend, rippling with wistful woodwind. Album closer I Saw It Coming depicts the mesmerising nature of grief. Here, Georgia describes heartbreak “like a car crash in slow motion”. Simultaneously horrified and enthralled by the impending anguish, she sings: “I couldn’t tear my eyes away, I didn’t want to miss the display”.

While many of Hiraeth’s songs peer unflinchingly into darker pockets of the psyche, there is also humour and light. Write it on the Sky is a glistening, neon-lit anthem. Tigress is a fierce-hearted love song, with punchy drum-pad samples that evoke more than a hint of buoyant 90s nostalgia. An album to heal a broken heart, inspire new beginnings and ignite joy, Hiraeth is laden with light and shade.

In My Blood is out Wednesday October 19.
Hiraeth is out Thursday November 17.