Track x Track: Tori Forsyth - 'All We Have Is Who We Are'

Image credit: Eliza Mullins

All We Have Is Who We Are. That’s the title of rapidly rising Aussie alt-country music star Tori Forsyth’s awesome new album… it’s also a nice mantra to ponder, a friendly little reminder that at the end of the day, you really only even have yourself and everything else is entropy… Not to get too philosophical, that is!

It’s hard to believe Forsyth’s breakthrough debut album (that saw a Golden Guitar nomination) Dawn of the Dark was released only six years ago in 2018, with the sophomore follow-up Provlépseis cementing her place as one of the most exciting country-adjacent singer-songwriters in the country.

With all of this success and acclaim, however, came self doubt, chaos and uncertainty, with Tori no longer thinking she had anything to offer, unsure of herself as an artist and what the future may hold, leading to a dreaded bout of writer’s block.

She wasn’t about to give up though, and after months of battling through, Tori changed her approach in inspirational manner - if she wasn’t in love with the process, simply walk away… I’m sure that was easier said than done! “As soon as I said that, I started to laugh again,” Tori says. Suddenly, with no pressure or urgency resting on her shoulders, the songs began flowing out of her. “I felt like I was holding my breath for years,” Tori reflects. “And then I could finally breathe.”

She could also write, play and sing again, with the result a watershed moment - her third album, All We Have Is Who We Are. Across 10 tracks, Forsyth showcases her knack for crafting emotional and engaging country compositions that pack plenty of pop sensibility and catchy hooks, ranging from upper tempo jaunts to stripped back ballads, resulting in a well rounded listen from start to finish.

To celebrate the release of All We Have Is Who We Are, Tori will be hitting the road for a run of east coast shows in mid-May (dates below), and was kind enough to dive deep into her third album for Pilerats:

All We Are

This song is an ode to the place that brought me back to the foundations of who I am. Belladonna Hollow. A magical healing place of self-discovery and wonder. A place that was their springboard of my ultimate mission of seeking joy and not wallowing in my own self-pity. That joy and happiness is available to all. The place where I learned that self deprecation and pity is not a heroic gesture, it's merely a self-fulfilling narcissistic prophecy that has been taught and spread across this generation of low self-esteem. We deserve wonderful, lovely things, our neighbours do too and when we have true joy in our hearts this will spread and create joy in the world. I am imperfect in this, but the notion is the bookmark I'll use in each chapter of my life.

Sometimes

Sometimes is a break up song. The only one on the record, the only one I have ever written, the only one I intend to write. Plain and simple, sometimes out of nowhere, your heart gets broken. But, you pick up the pieces and move on and sometimes, most of the time, something beautiful is on the other side.

Didn't Mean A Thing

This track is radical responsibility for the parts we play in our own undoing and the undoing of relationships.

Alchemist

Alchemist is a cheeky understanding and unravelling of self. The lighter and more comforting track that gives permission to choose light whenever you can, letting it shine in on you because you are worthy of it and we get to decide who it is that we are.

Good Enough

Good Enough is simply about the raw emotion of isolation, unseen effort and feeling like you're missing the mark. Whatever that mark might be. I felt like a little girl writing it because I think it's something we can begin feeling at a very young age. I wanted it to be an innocent questioning of, when will I accept that I am good enough? Towards the end, the song has a bit of light, showing that we are the only ones who can truly measure what that is for ourselves; everyone else's perception is irrelevant.

Made Your Bed

Made Your Bed is simply the refusal to conform for better or worse because your own morals are stronger and a tribute to folks with an alternate opinion of that.

Past And Present

A love letter to a younger me. Letting me know that I am worth love and nothing less. This a letter to anyone like me who got caught up in the game of chaos and confusion, playing fast and loose and creating your own moral code. Which inevitably, fails. But the hopeful notion that your past does not makeup who you are; it is merely a stop along the way to finding out.

Not In Control

This simply put is my 2020 song. Watching the world come together and divide just as quickly and the extreme ramifications of what that looks like in its aftermath.

Aces & Eights

This song is about the fears that come with failure and stepping out of the comfort zone at a new level... The act of always adjusting your gaze and pushing forward. Sacrifice and the push and pull of what’s actually worth sacrificing.

Happy

With the song Happy, I didn't envision this making it on the record. But it's as real as it gets in a surface-level way. I feel pretty differently about my career and the point of it and the landscape which I am part of than I did prior to 2020.

There is so much more to life than killing yourself for something or even using vergence and negative emotions to propel momentum. It’s a short-sighted way to do it. I always used people’s opinions of me, the " I bet you cant’s" to motivate me to do great things. Once you stop listening to others this becomes redundant, and you don't care anymore.

When it comes to a beautiful, life changing, wonderful language such as music, I will simply only do what makes me happy and be propelled by this and only this.

          - Tori Forsyth, May 2024

Tori Forsyth's new album All We Have Is Who We Are is out now via Island / UMA

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