Stella Donnelly – Flood (Opaque red)

Like the many banded stilt walkers spread across the cover of her latest album "Flood", Stella Donnelly is wading into uncharted territory. Here she discovers who she is as an artist amongst the herd and how rich an individual she can be. "Flood" is Donnelly's record of this rediscovery: the product of months of risky experimentation, tough moments of introspection and a lot of relocation.

Donnelly's early reflections on the relationship between the individual and the many can be traced back to her time in the rainforests of Bellingen, where she used birdwatching as a hobby and an escape in a world characterized by boundaries. By paying more attention to the natural world around her, Donnelly recalls, "I was able to lose the feeling that anyone was responding to me. I forgot who I was as a musician, and that was a humbling experience, just being, being my little self." Reconnecting with her "little self" allowed Donnelly to tap into creative sources she didn't know existed. Soon the songs came to her in ways she couldn't control, and over the coming months Donnelly amassed 43 tracks as she moved away from Bellingen and around the country, often finding herself a stranger to the place due to border restrictions and a difficult rental market.

Although writing "Flood" was a very personal endeavor, Donnelly considered the recording process to be one of her most collaborative projects to date. Together with her band members, she produced the record alongside Anna Laverty and Jake Webb of Methyl Ethyl, which fostered an important spontaneity in the studio. With Webb, Donnelly was able to "dig in" and discover a "forward sound" she'd been searching for, while Laverty's ability to "capture the piano" and recognize the "perfect take" allowed the songwriter to take risks, many of which have clearly paid off.

Looking back on "Banded Stilt," Donnelly appreciates that "they create an optical illusion in the crowd, but on its own it's a unique work of art" While each song on "Flood" is a unique work of art in its own right, the collective shares everything from Stella Donnelly in abundance: her inner child, her nurturing self, her nightmarish self; everything of herself went into the making of this record, and while it would take an ocean to fathom everything she feels, it's worth diving in.