With this new track, the listener is pulled further into a meticulous space of sound and lyricism that Hassall has been creating since we first met her in 2021. Beautifully layered and personal songwriting meets honest perspectives and outlook. In a similar vein to artists including Courtney Barnett and Angie McMahon, there’s a distinct emphasis on lyrical delivery and tone that makes this sort of music unique to Hassall herself.

Of ‘Overpopulater’, the songwriter explains: “‘Overpopulater’ is for anyone who, like me: a) drinks too much coffee and b) can’t decide whether they want kids or not (due to environmental reasons, of course), and c) is head over heels in love with at least one person 24/7.

“I’ve been playing ‘Overpopulater’ live for a while now, and it always seems to be one the audience remembers. I think that’s credited to its relatability for a twenty-something (particularly one who lives within a 25km radius of Melbourne city. See: left-wing coffee addicts), and also the fact that this may be my only song that you can dance to for the entire duration of the song.”

Along with the single release, official visuals for ‘Overpopulater’ have been shared by Hassall today. Filmed by Willem Kingma (Bones & Jones, The Grogans), the music video takes place in a number of locations in the small town of Colac, Victoria. For Hassall, the objective of the clip was to replicate the song’s overall feeling of being over-caffeinated.

“My favourite part of the day was shooting at our friend Maggie’s house – it was a beautiful old house with feature pieces of furniture, and each room was painted a totally different colour, which made it ideal for filming.”

The post Hassall continues to tease debut LP with new single ‘Overpopulator’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

‘Dinner Table’ oozes personality from the get-go. Kicking off with a flutter of synths that ornate the track throughout its runtime, as soon as Hassall’s vocals begin in the opening passages of ‘Dinner Time’, you listen. With a confident performance full of conviction and charm, Hassall’s story-teller delivery on the track could be sonically likened to the work of legendary Australian songwriters such as Courtney Barnett, Angie McMahon or Middle Kids.

The theme’s on ‘Dinner Table’ initially spawned from her experience with Misophonia; a neurophysiological disorder that causes people to have an extreme reaction to specific sounds.

“Ever since I was a young teenager, I’ve had a pretty severely negative aversion to the sound of people eating. I would struggle to stay at the dinner table with my family and hated it when people got too close to me. Any kind of eating or loud breathing or sniffing sounds would result in me yelling or crying or leaving. I always thought this would be something that I got over, but the condition has only thrived over the years,” says Hassall.

“This song’s about that, and any other of my traits I naively hoped would ‘just be a phase’. I’m always suspiciously appreciative of anyone who’s still willing to date me or be a close friend once they’ve uncovered this crazy-woman side of me, and the song is about that too.”

The post Hassall kicks off 2025 with infectious new single ‘Dinner Table’ appeared first on She Makes Music.