Bonniesongs, aka Irish-born, Australian-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Bonnie Stewart recently released her second album Strangest Feeling via Impressed Recordings.
Bonniesongs makes music that is both mellow and hazy and driven and edgy, traversing art-folk, psychedelia, dream-pop and grunge. She could also be compared to art-rock and alternative artists such as PJ Harvey, Feist and Grouper for her music’s raw, hypnotic qualities, although Bonniesongs’ style sits more in a ‘ethereal grunge’ category of its own, one she’s been carving out since her 2019’s debut album Energetic Mind (Small Pond/Art As Catharsis).
Strangest Feeling is a collection of songs written amongst the limbo of the lockdowns and the transition back to life. A flavour of autumn runs through the album, intwined with themes of spells, the ocean and Halloween. The punky riffs and driving drums of ‘Olive Oil’ and the album’s second single ‘Bittersweet’ are reminders of fun and joy, with ‘Bittersweet’ offering a slice of unadulterated punky grunge in the playful ode to finding fun in chaos, inspired by Bonnie’s stay in New Zealand during the pandemic.
The album’s first single, ‘Halloween Birthday’ (notably released last year on the 31 October) is a more lo-fi affair with finger plucked melody, its autumnal hues giving off a beguiling witchy feel. Bonniesongs’ describes it, alongside the songs ‘Weightless’ and ‘Keeper’, as “the tracks on the album inspired by nostalgia, secrets and space.” Their hypnotic feel and slow tempos create a feeling of rest to the end of the album.
The album’s ‘love songs’ come in the form of art-rock pop ballad and album opener ‘Dragon’, the grungy psych-folk of ‘Whipping Bird’ and the dreamy indie-rock of title track ‘Strangest Feeling’ (a semi-finalist within two categories in the International Songwriting Competition), collectively exploring relationships with others and oneself. The haunting layers of vocals, whistles and strings of ‘Take Off’ offer the album’s most emotive song however, with Bonniesongs taking the listener on an emotional journey exploring connection to place and home, capturing the unrest of missing home when you move country. As with a few tracks on the album, the unsettling times of the pandemic lace the songs with the strange otherworldliness of that time.
On Strangest Feeling Bonniesongs tackles the most visceral of life experiences, with all their sharp edges, then wraps them in a sensory, expansive cloud of dream-like glaze. We asked Bonnie to do an in depth track by track breakdown of Strangest Feeling for us. Read it below.
Dragon
‘Dragon’ is the wild card of the album… It’s an art-rock pop ballad with big feelings. I wrote it during a composer residency at the City of Sydney Creative Studio. It’s about connecting with ourselves and others, and recognizing that we are all unique individuals with different needs—especially in relationships.
‘Dragon’ has a different tone and production than I’ve done before. It was the last addition to the album and almost didn’t make it! I had recorded the rest of the tracks months before and thought I was done but Tom and Alyx pushed me to get it on.
Strangest Feeling
A dreamy, indie rock song that is maybe my only classic love song. I wrote it as part of the online workshop School Of Song with guest lecturer Luke Temple. Our instruction was to use a lyrical cliche and write a love song. What came out was the fear of loss with loving someone. It’s a happy sad song, celebrating love and connection but also highlighting the inevitable future heartache. I recorded and produced this with Tony Buchan at Church St studios. It was one of the few tracks from the album that we recorded live together as a band. Rhys Mottley on second guitar, Freya Schack-Arnott on cello, Tully Ryan on drums, and Tony on bass and some piano tinkles. I actually sang the chorus melody wrong, but the take was so good we had to keep it! I might sing it slightly different live…
Bittersweet
I wanted a song that was energetic and fun to play with a band. It’s really driving and a bit punky grunge… The concept of the song for me is to not take life or myself too seriously and remember to stay fun and joyful, even in weird times. I wrote this song when my kiwi partner and I ended up in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic. After the initial wave of lockdowns was over in NZ, we found ourselves at a local homebrew club where I tried an unreal Belgian cherry sour which brought me joy at a strange time! I recorded it back in Sydney with long-term collaborator David Trumpmanis between his studio in St Peters and Golden Retriever Studios. I laid down the vocals, guitar and drums before Rhys and Tom added lashings of guitar and bass. The track bleeds into a little experimental jam we named ‘Stay Fun’, produced by Alyx Dennison. Slowing down to just drums, it segues into ‘Olive Oil’.
Olive Oil
I wrote ‘Olive Oil’ while visiting Wellington, NZ. I had recently started a game with friends where we list our top 5 favourite things. Olive oil, ocean, sunshine are some things that bring me joy. I wanted a happy, lighthearted song.
I originally recorded guitar, drums and voice with David Trumpmanis but were kind of struggling to get the vibe right. It was sounding folky and flowy and needed more edge.
Alyx Dennison stepped in to help us steer the track towards its rockier fate. We sped it up, rerecorded the drums and added bass. The song features my classic rock band line up of Rhys Mottley on second guitar, Tom Botting on bass, and Tully Ryan on drums. We really liked the drums in the Deerhunter song ‘Never Stops’ and wanted that driving energy throughout the track.
Take Off
It’s a gentle haunting ballad about longing for home and place, and how you can never shake the unrest of missing home when you move country. As with a few of my album songs, this one was inspired by the strange times of the pandemic. Reflecting on our last minute decision to pack up within 24 hours and leave our home of 10 years in Sydney to live with my partners family in New Zealand. It was a strange and sad flight with the eerie apocalyptic feeling lockdowns had on us all. We then had 2 weeks of hotel quarantine upon landing!
I actually recorded the whistles and some vocals of the bridge in the garden of my families home in Ireland. If you listen very closely, you might hear my neighbours dog Nala barking! The rest was recorded with David Trumpmanis in St Peters and Golden Retriever. As usual I sing, guitar and drum and the track features cello and double bass by Freya and Tom.
Halloween Birthday
Halloween Birthday is a nostalgic song that celebrates my obsession with Halloween with a yearnful desire to have it all… Being from Ireland, where Halloween is taken very seriously, I have often been inspired by the spooky and supernatural. I’m interested in creating a sense of otherworldliness which is what Halloween is all about. The lyrics are literally inspired by childhood anxiety of getting to my friends birthday party and trick or treatery before all the good sweets were gone.
Whipping Bird
Grungy psych-folk rock desperate love song from a lonely bird’s perspective. The Australian Eastern Whipbird has one of my favourite calls. It’s one of the most characteristic sounds of the Australian bush, and is performed as a duet. The male makes the drawn-out whip crack and the female usually follows quickly with a sharp “choo”. The birds generally form long lasting relationships forming strong pair bonds.
This is a desperate love song, looking for that other, wanting them to return your call. I recorded the bones of this track in New Zealand with my partner Tom Botting in our friend Baz’s studio Bagnall Hill, Te Pahu. I played guitar, drums and voice, Tom layered some bowed doublebass, then Freya later added some cello recorded with Tony
Buchen. Finally I added “to know where you are would be enough” vocals with David Trumpmanis in Sydney and some Whipbird call recordings made by Adam Gottlieb.
Weightless
A spacious track with ambient drones and loops underneath wispy vocals intersected by heavy thrums and banshee like vocals of the final chorus, then back to floating and whirling in space… This was another School Of Song homework, we were tasked to write a song about space. It’s my most ambient track of the album. I wanted to explore heavy and light and emulate drifting off into the cosmos. I recorded an extra 10 minutes of improvised loops of vocals and effects but it didn’t make the album. Maybe one day I’ll release it as a meditation track!
I started with making the live loops ( with my Boss RC505MK2 pedal) as a bass, and made a drone with guitar pedals. Then I layered the melody and guitar part, followed by some watery mallets on the toms, and then Freya and Tom recorded some arco cello and doublebass. Recorded with Tony Buchen.
Keeper
I had planned to record this track with the band, but I had some time at the end of a studio day with Tony Buchen and decided to do a quick live take. The result is the most vulnerable and bare track on the album. I hardly ever play piano and was quite nervous to play and sing, which maybe added to the fragility of the sound. It’s a song about keeping secrets and being kept out of secrets. Featuring Freya on the cello. It has a bit of a twisted circus waltzy undertone…
