Rita B releases new single 'Travel Companion' and shares with us her road trip playlist
Image: D.H. Norley
Australia’s Rita B today releases new single ‘Travel Companion’, her second single of 2021. A gorgeous, lush, stripped back guitar-folk-indie track, it tells a melancholic story of loneliness and searching for the perfect ‘travel companion’. “I’m thinking about marrying / The next person who is nice / So that I can have my own travel companion,” she sings.
“I wanted to write something folk/singer songwriter-esque, with a lyrical story accompanied by a simple guitar arrangement,” Rita says. “I came up with the chord progression first, which eventually led to the idea around traveling on the road. I was influenced by moments in my life where I had been traveling alone for gigs and the lyrics are a reflection upon those experiences.”
Today the music video for ‘Travel Companion’ is also released, directed by Maisie Cohen and shot in various locations around regional NSW. “Maisie Cohen was the brainchild of the project, who quite literally turned a song about road tripping, into a road trip throughout regional NSW,” Rita says. “The destination was Mungo National Park with its unique and arid landscape, visiting many quirky/colonial regional towns along the way, taking advantage of the signature architecture and landscapes there within. A few of my family members feature in the clip, my sister and her partner are mentioned in the storyline and my niece played the role of my imaginary daughter. Really proud and chuffed that they participated”.
Rita B first emerged in 2017 when she released her debut album With Pockets Nearly Empty and A Glass Almost Full. She spent most of that year touring the album across Australia and ‘Work’, a track from the album, wound up becoming one of FBi radio’s 10 most played songs of 2018.
To celebrate the release of ‘Travel Companion’, Rita B has shared exclusively with Women In Pop her playlist 2021’s Best New tracks When Going On A Road Trip. Listen below.
Carla Geneve - ‘Dog Eared’: It’s angsty and a belter to sing along to.
Big Thief - ‘Little Things’: My all time favourite band, so anything they produce is the best.
Georgia Mulligan - ‘Singing Stripe’: A nice song to reflect, relate and connect with.
Hiatus Kaiyote - ‘Stone Or Lavender’: A song that will remain on my most played song list forever. It’s so beautiful!
Babitha - ‘The Clown’: Frothworthy alt-country
Britt Ridley - ‘Hannah’: A road trip playlist is not complete without Banjos and harmonies
Lucy Dacus - ‘VBS’: Poetic nostalgia in song.
Waxahatchee - ‘Talking Dust Bowl Blues’: A road trip playlist is also not complete without a thick southern American accented folk blues song.
Florian - ‘Patrick Swayze’: Catchy pop with relatable lyrics that are both touching and also slightly comedic.
Ngaiire - ‘Moonshine’: Ngaiire’s voice is one of my favourites out there. Her latest album 3 is done in her unique style and very good!
‘Travel Companion’ is out now. You can download and stream here.
To keep up with all things Rita B you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
