Introducing Perth's Girl York and their romantic new single, Dandies

"The track serves as a reminder; everything is going to be okay, life is worth the risk, and there's no reason to worry."

Tweet
Copy Link

West Australia has been pumping out a fair load of great indie-leaning acts over the last year - many of which playing this year's WAMFest - and it looks like we've got another with local three-piece Girl York. Initially kicking off as a duo with their debut EP Perception Is Reality back in 2015, a quick band reshuffle has led them emerging as a three-piece ahead of their upcoming second release, which just got its second tease with Dandies. Following on from Heroine last year, Dandies is a light-hearted and fun song touched by a stroke of romance, contrasting a slightly-heavy, surf-rock-esque sound with a pretty sweet message that'll no doubt warm your heart a little. "The song is a montage of the time spent between a couple on holiday," says vocalist Shaun Martin on the single. "The genuine happiness of the present and that rose coloured confidence, the feeling that everything is going to just great forever. The track serves as a reminder; everything is going to be okay, life is worth the risk and there's no reason to worry, only reasons to enjoy the present, reasons to exist!"

With a full five-track EP due out in October and another lined up for next year, it's a good time to get around Girl York and their vivacious sound - so do so with their latest single Dandies below:

Tell us about yourself?

Daniel and I started Girl York in 2011. We are both from farming backgrounds in Northam and have been around each other in local theatre, original bands and cover bands growing up. Girl York was a two-piece piano and drums band originally, but have been playing guitar-driven songs since 2016. Dan left in 2015, and James and Tim joined to form the current line up.

What’s the vibe music-wise?

Genre and vibe-wise, a lot of people say it fits into 90s categories. We like a lot of vocal and guitar effects, a lot of reverb, fuzz, delay and phaser. All the good stuff. The lyrics are usually quite dreary - definitely not super summery. Themes include depression, loneliness, the things we do to try and deal with those things, and a desperation to connect. The existential issues that we all can struggle with at times.

What are your production and writing processes like?

I’m not a prolific writer - the process is slow. I’ll have all my shit plugged in at home and ready to go, then when it’s time to go to bed in order to be fresh for work in the morning, I’ll get inspired to play guitar or piano for hours at a time. I’ll play something that I think sounds good and just keep repeating it and sing a melody. The lyrics are the last and hardest part. It’s not often songs eventuate.

Production wise we teamed up with Andy Lawson for Dreaming in 505, and Brian Mitra for Perception Is Reality. The songs are pretty much finished when we track them, however, we tend to leave a lot of room to get creative in the studio. More of everything, then take some away, then put some back again.

Can you tell us about your new single, Dandies?

I had this song for a while singing a different melody in the verse. We had tracked the instruments, but I hadn’t come with anything interesting to say during meandering rehearsals. I forced myself to spend a night on the song as we had a session coming up and wrote about the time I had spent the previous year with an ex-girlfriend that I met while working in Chile (so cliche, I know). We got together after I quit my job and came home to Australia, and she moved on to a new project in Dubai. The odds were probably stacked against us, but I get blind faith sometimes that anything can work. I went to Dubai, she came to Perth and the Wheatbelt, and we both travelled through Asia together and had a great time. Dandies is about those times and the blind faith that everything will be just great forever.

Any shows coming up?

Zero shows planned at the minute. I get pretty anxious playing a show and end up drinking and smoking a lot. I like shows, but don’t like those things, so they are not high on the list.

I would like to try and wind myself up and play some at the end of the year after the EP is over and out.

What’s the rest of the year have in store for you?

We will release the five track EP that the last two singles (Heroine and Dandies) are from in October, as well as another music video. The plan is to start tracking the next one ready for good old 2019.

Where can we find more of your music?

All of our released songs are on Spotify. Some are on Bandcamp, Triple J Unearthed, Soundcloud and YouTube.