20-YEAR-OLD PERTH ARTIST JULIA WALLACE SHARES SECOND SINGLE ‘PLACE IN MIND’ + ANNOUNCES DEBUT EP, OUT 24 MARCH 2021
Photo credit: Annie Harvey
“It's some of the most brilliant music we've heard all year.”
- Hayden Davies, Pilerats
“This stirs big emotions and a part of me wants to cry.”
- Claire Mooney, triple j
"It's as if Julia sits there in the corner and you're just magnetically drawn to it and become so entangled and invested in her every word.."
- Declan Byrne, triple j
Late last year we introduced you to brand new Perth-based artist, Julia Wallace. The 20-year-old released her stunning debut ‘Warm Light’, which is being received with open arms by the local and international music media, and quickly gained over 100,000 streams. Today Julia releases her second song ‘Place in Mind’ and announces the release of her debut EP (of the same title), which is due out on 24 March 2021.
Julia is setting out to “make trumpet cool”, and that she is. Her first single was added to Unearthed and received incredible reviews by triple j presenters, a premiere on Home & Hosed, high rotation on FBi and airplay across multiple radio stations including PBS, RTR, Radio Adelaide and NPR affiliate KSMU in the US. The song was added to multiple editorial playlists across Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon, finding Julia new fans in Australia, US, UK, Japan and beyond, as well as attention from curious Shazamers.
The forthcoming EP Place in Mind is a pressure-free release, referred to by Julia as a cathartic side-project while she (in very Perth fashion) currently plays in five local Perth bands and studies composition. Julia is also a maths and spelling tutor to kids by day and a multi-instrumentalist by night.
Julia’s new single, ‘Place in Mind’ was born when she was recording nursery rhymes at work, teaching young kids how to spell. The melody remained in her head so she took it home and worked on it. It took a different form and became a song about wanting validation, forgiveness and being terrified of the future.
Of the track, Julia says, "I wrote this song craving to let myself find an ideal place in my mind far from past memories and guilt, and wanting permission from myself to love again. I was going around lacking direction and wanting validation from everyone around me, but through writing this song I realised I needed to just forgive myself from letting people down and move on. Place In Mind is a short poem that repeats through subtle reharmonisation around the home key, with a bigger, more hectic realisation moment with horns beefing it up in the middle.”
Julia writes songs about girls she’s loved and her aggressive guilty conscience. ‘Place in Mind’ (both the single and the EP) were recorded during lockdown in a shack at the back of her parent’s place, using equipment she’s had since she was 12 years old. The songs were sent to Jono Steer (Angie McMahon, Leif Vollebekk, Hiatus Kaiyote) who co-produced them and worked on them remotely in Castlemaine, Victoria. Jono and Julia still haven’t met in person but plan to record more music together when Julia can leave WA.
Julia plays all instruments on the EP with the exception of drums, which were recorded remotely by Leigh Fisher. Julia is an established multi-instrumentalist and performer in the indie and jazz scene. Her trumpet playing has seen her graduate on a scholarship to a prestigious high school, an entrance scholarship to WAAPA and recently completed an Intensive Jazz course at Brubeck Institute of Music in California.
PLACE IN MIND EP
- OUT 24 MARCH
TRACKLIST
1. Place In Mind
2. Warm Light
3. Song About Lying
4. You’ll Love Her Again
Julia is part of a new mentorship program launched by manager Charlotte Abroms (Angie McMahon, Ainslie Wills) and manager/publicist Alyse Newman (AANTHOLOGIES). This program aims to make a contribution to supporting the next wave of teens and young artists who are setting their hearts and minds on a career in music.
