Melbourne-based alt pop-rock band Joan & The Giants are fast becoming one of Australia’s most exciting breakthrough acts this year.  The band release their new single ‘Mamma Don’t Cry’ today via Xelon Digital.

The four piece are queer front-woman Grace Newton-Wordsworth (who grew up on an organic farm in regional Western Australia) alongside members Riley Sutton, Chris Mackenzie and Liam Olsen.

“I wrote ‘Mamma Don’t Cry’ several months after leaving an abusive relationship and moving into my first share house — which quickly became my safe haven,” says Grace. “I remember writing it on a warm WA afternoon in our rumpus room, not long after a really difficult conversation with my mum. We’d gone for coffee in Fremantle, and that’s when I finally told her what I had been through. She broke down in tears, heartbroken that I hadn’t told her while it was happening. But the truth is, when you’re in it, you don’t really tell anyone. It takes every ounce of strength just to stop excusing it—and even more to finally walk away. This song didn’t come from a place of victimhood. If anything, it came from a time when I discovered just how strong I really was—and I’m proud of that. I felt like a butterfly leaving the cocoon, slowly finding freedom, peace, and a sense of self again.”