Songs Worth Streaming: Nick Ward - Funeral ft E^ST

Sydney based musician Nick Ward made a powerfully heartfelt return towards the last half of 2021, with the single PRINCESS quickly winning us over with intimate lyricism and moving melodies. This year he’s back with another deeply emotive track titled FUNERAL which as the name hints to, unpacks personal loss and grief. With the release of the single comes the announcement of an EP that should be making its way to our ears in the next few months, the eight-track release named BRAND NEW YOU. 

Nick Ward has been producing his own music since the age of 11, debuting his first thoughtful laid-back track in 2018, which was followed by a string of singles. This eventually led to him signing to Sony Music Publishing early last year for the release of his first EP Everything I Wish I Told You, the six-track body of work exploring the personality, pain and power for Nick, a reflection and a documentation of the young singer-songwriters journey so far. Second to music, comes the creative's other passion, filmmaking, creating his own music videos as well as a YouTube series Kill Your Darlings. 

With the release of FUNERAL and the announce of BRAND NEW YOU reigns a new era for the artist, keeping the best parts of what he’s done so far - writing delightful and meaningful melodies and creating his own music videos, whilst evolving his sound and lyrical inspiration to correlate with the stages in life this young creative is at. FUNERAL features additional vocals from E^ST, another Sydney based artist who’s smooth and pleasing tones fit effortlessly with Nick’s, adding some extra flare to sweeten the song just that little bit more. The track's production is nothing short of lush and warm, with plenty of intriguing sounds and stylistic choices. With every strum of the washed out acoustic guitar, the sonic bass contemporaneous with a hard hitting beat, a foundation is laid for synthesised melodies and the male-female voices to shine. The emotion-filled lo-fi pop track’s inspiration comes from the sad occurrence of the passing of Nick’s grandparents. Not only were they the first losses the singer-songwriter had experienced, but both happened within a couple weeks of one another, stating that ”I'd never lost anyone close to me, in my whole life – so I was suddenly dropped right into the middle of grief and this really numb state of denial.” 

Through the experience, he explains that “I felt guilty that I wasn't mourning or crying – it was almost like life was going forward as usual, just without them for some reason. The first lyrics are 'I wish I believed in God / I wish that I believed in ghosts / because maybe we could talk again / that's what I'd like the most'. I'm not a religious or spiritual person, but going through that experience made me envy the idea that some higher power could explain this situation. I felt cheated and I felt a complete loss of control. Loving someone doesn't make them invincible.” 

The artist's full EP will be out April 15 via Hunnydew Recordings, and we’re sure it’ll be filled with plenty more tunes to warm our souls, and pull on those heart-strings. In the mean-time, bask in the raw emotion FUNERAL has to offer below - including Nick’s self directed, performed, and edited music video, containing footage from his late grandparents from the 1960s. 

Stream FUNERAL

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