INTERVIEW: Woodes talks her new single 'Magic' and upcoming EP 'Kingdom Come': "When I’m making music, I want to love it and believe in it. I’m grateful for my job in a brand new way."
Image: Mads Colvin
Australia’s Woodes (real name Elle Graham) creates music that is instinctively beautiful, ethereal, warm and touches your soul in ways you can’t always explain.
Off the back of performing her first ever shows as SXSW in the USA, she has released her new single ‘Magic’, the third taste of her upcoming EP Kingdom Come.
An understated gem, the song pairs Woodes stunning voice with piano and the subtlest of electronica, as she sings about finding the beauty in the unravelling of a relationship. In the music video, directed by Mads Colvin, Woodes is shown recovering from the relationship through reconnecting with nature amongst the support of her closest friends.
“‘Magic’ is one of the most personal songs I’ve written. It reflects on how beautiful the relationship had been, even though I could feel it falling apart in real time,” she says. “Mads Colvin directed the film clip - we went for a hike and sat in a forest and reflected on the last couple of years. It felt nice to be surrounded by a couple friends in the creative/healing process.”
First releasing music in 2015, Woodes has received critical acclaim for her dreamy, electronica-pop-folk music and has toured with artists including Thelma Plum, Asgier and Sylvan Esso. Recently announced as a finalist in the Environmental Music Prize, nature is a thread that runs through her new EP Kingdom Come, due for release on 9 June, as she used hiking and reconnecting to nature to rebuild her relationship to music following the pandemic. In a beautiful gesture, fans who pre-save the EP will also receive wildflower seeds, an initiative driven by Woodes in an ongoing collaboration with the Diggers Gardening Club.
Woodes is without fail an artist that brings absolute beauty into your life with her music. Beautiful vocals teamed with soundscapes and lyrics that really connect with you, Kingdom Come is sure to be a highlight of your June. We recently caught up with Woodes to chat more about her music.
Hi Elle! So good to chat with you today. How is life with you right now?
Life is really good! I just did SXSW and my first show in Los Angeles! It feels special to travel again for music and also be releasing music again - I’m definitely not taking it for granted. I have been loving it all.
‘Magic’ is lifted from your new EP Kingdom Come which will be out on 9 June. Tell me more about this beautiful track.
’Magic’ is one of the most personal songs on the EP. I went through a big breakdown of a relationship last year, the longest/biggest relationship I’d been in, we’d been living together through the pandemic and this is a real time account of the end I suppose. I was going through a perpetual storm of trying to make things better and felt like I was circling around myself. I felt like it wasn't that the love died, it just didn’t work in the same way anymore, and that destroyed us. Hoping we could fix it. I’m recounting the end, but I always come back to being mystified by how good it once was.
Previous single ‘Lifetime’ is such a beautiful track, congratulations. You have said it is inspired by the years lost during the pandemic, but also that the best may be yet to come. Can you talk to me a little bit more about the inspiration behind the song?
Thank you. Coming out of well… everything the last couple of years, it made me question my relationship with my music and what I needed from my art to feel good. We were in a position in Australia where it was pretty much illegal to perform - and festivals, live shows etc were at the bottom of every projection for ‘opening back up’. Literally at the very very very end. I found it hard to justify being an artist in the thick of it - it was feeling delusional. I went to a therapist, I pulled back to being self managed with the view of self releasing. I separated from my label. I made music with one of my best friends and I didn’t show anyone the results til we felt it was complete. I’ve made music with Danny (Harley) for years and he gives me a lot of space as a producer and songwriter to shape things and take the helm. It’s extremely collaborative and exciting too - felt like being in high school just working on some weird project with no end goal. It was important to get back my own version of the truth in the process and view through my own lens. I got really strong in that process. I love being an artist and I want this. I want to make things, I missed people, I missed connection, I missed live music. None of this was ever music’s fault. I found myself using it to heal and spent a lot of time outdoors.
I was simultaneously going through a big breakup, I moved interstate… there… was a lot going on. I kept coming back to the idea ‘what if the best is yet to come’ as a little propeller for moving forward. There is so much to be grateful right here in the present, but it could be entirely likely that the best could come next. Like, why not.
I was talking to my dad telling him ‘I wish I was older…or wiser’ and he said ‘these moments are when wisdom is learned’ - I wrote that down in my notes too. Kept coming back to it. I have so much wisdom to learn, friends to revisit, places to see. It’s not all over. The best may be yet to come. A beautiful lifetime.
‘Lifetime’ is this gorgeous cross between gentle indie-guitar-pop and synth-electronica. Was there a particular sound, or ‘feel’ you were hoping to achieve with the song?
Originally when I was writing ‘Lifetime’ it was more electronic and we pulled it back to the guitar. I wanted it to feel like a Sunday afternoon.
Speaking of the pandemic and the way it decimated the music industry, now we are out of the worst of it, how do you feel it has impacted your creativity, either positively or negatively?
I feel like the pandemic put me through a super soak wash. I worked a lot on what I wanted from my career, my relationships and my music. I was looking a lot at sustainability. How do we move forward? I’m proud of who I am on the other side. When I’m on stage I feel more present. When I’m working with other people I want them to feel appreciated and seen for their contribution. When I’m making music, I want to love it and believe in it. I’m grateful for my job in a brand new way.
In the middle of it - it was dark, it wasn’t good. It was definitely negative. But I guess I process everything with music, so I came out of it with all these songs and ideas and scribbles in notebooks being like “well… ok. I’m a songwriter, i can’t shake that”. It feels great to know you want something.
You have created a pre-save incentive by mailing out wildflower seeds to everyone who pre-saves the EP - we can’t tell you how incredible we think this is! What was your thinking behind this?
Aw that’s so lovely! I’m happy everyone has been onboard. My mum has been a Diggers Club member since I was really little - we have their planting guides up around the house and get the magazine delivered and it lives in the toilet. Good time for planning out one’s garden…
Early on I wanted to do some special meadow acoustic sessions at the Diggers Gardens - and when we were there I was looking at their wildflower seeds and thinking how cute it would be to send my fans seeds as gifts. To thank them for sticking around and also maybe have a reason to share photos of our gardens. I loved my garden in the pandemic. Spent a lot of time out there. The first seed packs for the first presave have 7000 seeds each?! I had no idea there were that many. Funny if my audience are planting them in apartments… or little plant pots? Maybe it’s time to take rewilding to the streets! Lets get some bees and bugs!!!
If we take it all the way back to the beginning, what role did music play in your childhood?
I grew up in a national park as an only child, my dad plays guitar, banjo….the spoons! My mum plays French horn. They love music. I started on piano then went to orchestral percussion and then started producing music and recording stuff. I wish I learned the harp or the cello. I’m a big music fan. I love facts about artists and albums. I love storytelling and musicians with a legacy. Music gives me a lot of purpose.
You just played at SXSW, which must have been an incredible experience. How was it?
It was so wonderful to go to Austin. I love that city. We ate BBQ 4/6 nights? Maybe too much. The shows were great - it was lovely to be back in America. I took my drummer with me & we did four shows in three days. Definitely a lot of carrying equipment! But lovely to be able to perform new music overseas.
The music industry has never been a particularly welcoming or safe space for female artists, mainly because it has been run by older, straight, white men for decades. What are your thoughts on gender (in)equality and sexism in music?
I am one of 2.8% of female producers. I have a lot of stories, I have a lot of frustrations, but I want to look forward and be a part of a change in programming. Most of my team are women. I just played my first show in Los Angeles with my USA band, and everyone was female identifying. I deal with my frustrations by employing women, by prioritising women, by talking out about it with men (there are lots of subtle things we can all change in our views) and lastly by mentoring and empowering emerging female artists. At SXSW I spoke to an established woman in the industry and she said “I'm a pioneer aging my way to becoming a legend’. It really should be a tattoo.
‘Magic’ is out now, Kingdom Come will be with us in June, what else do you have planned for 2023?
Lots of secrets. Lots of music. Lots of adventures.
‘Magic’ is out now via Nettwerk Music Group. You can download and stream here.
Kingdom Come will be released on 9 June via Nettwerk Music Group. You can pre-save here
To keep up with all things Woodes you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
