e4444e Shares ‘Skink' Ahead Of Authentic Natural Tradition Release Next Friday
e4444e – the moniker of experimental Awabakal/Newcastle multi-instrumentalist Romy Church – shares 'Skink', the final single from forthcoming album Authentic Natural Tradition, which arrives next Friday, May 31 via Dinosaur City.
'Skink' is a kind of lover's lament taking the form of small, fragmented vignettes: strong windows, a skink coming around a wall, and a moment of seeing someone as they really are. An image, as Church sings, of life's "lonely carousel." Church says it was inspired by the 'feeling of wind rushing over you while you sit still.' The song contains a similar gentle force, beginning with unaccompanied acoustic guitar that slowly builds with soft synths and xylophone.
Authentic Natural Tradition might be Church's most direct statement, with the cloudy arrangements of his previous record (I Spend All Day Drawing a Circle) cleared to make way for breathy vocals, bittersweet lyrics and delicate guitars and percussion. On this album, Church's reflections float to the surface of his tracks, clear-eyed and bracing. Lyrics are not buried deep into the mix, but slice through. Meanwhile, the album's lyrics push against linearity, playing with the haphazard nature of dreams and the subconscious. Celestial forces, strange associations and juxtaposing images abound on Authentic Natural Tradition, but the record never feels lofty or out of grasp. Rather, Church's abstract tales feel grounded, through their visceral emotions and invocations of the natural world.
Like I Spend All Day Drawing a Circle, Church recorded, performed and mixed the album by himself, with a few friends dropping by to add in live drums and guitar hooks. The title is a sly joke – Church wanting to put aside alternative tunings and revisit more simple chord hooks. He was also poking fun at himself. As he says, the album reflects the 'tradition' he's created over his past four records, with Church becoming increasingly aware of his own fixations, themes and sounds. Yet, Authentic Natural Tradition sees Church expanding his palette like never before, with dips into psych-rock, ghostly techno and sprawling country.
Authentic Natural Tradition continues e4444e's prolific and expansive output, joining last year's Soft Sighing Dusk I Never See You, I Spend All Day Drawing a Circle (2023), Autumnal Eve (2021) and Australian Music Prize-nominated Coldstream Road (2020), as well as a string of self-released EPs and stand-alone singles. Cited by The Guardian as 'one of the best young artists in the country', his work has been met with widespread acclaim from NME, Rolling Stone Australia, The Music, The Australian and Fashion Journal among others, with regular plays and praise across FBi Radio (Album of the Week x 4), 2SER (rotation), Triple R, 2SER and more. Live, e4444e has shared stages with Emma Russack, Godtet, thatboykwame and Body Type, among others, plus landed a coveted slot on innovative Gadigal land/Sydney venue, Phoenix Central Park's Season III program.
Authentic Natural Tradition singles 'Liberation', 'Crutch' and 'Skink' have been embraced by Spotify with adds to New Music Friday, Indie Arrivals, Fresh Finds, Fresh Finds Indie, Fresh Finds AU & NZ, and cover spots on Tapestry and Alt Here, with additional support from rage ('Liberation' scored a Wild One feature on release), Rolling Stone AU, FBi Radio, RTR, 2SER, 4ZZZ and 3RRR, David Dean Burkhart and Newcastle Herald among others, alongside debuts on the NZ RadioScope Alternative Airplay Chart.
Authentic Natural Tradition is out next Friday, May 30 via Dinosaur City. Pre-order the album on limited-edition, recycled 12" vinyl and stream the singles now.
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