TIA TAMORA UNVEILS DEBUT SINGLE ‘PICNIC’
Fresh face Tia Tamora is set to release her debut dark-pop, indie single “Picnic” alongside its stunning visual showpiece video clip. Bordering on the styles of baroque-pop and dream-pop, Tia embodies the dark edge of Lana Del Rey, Melanie Martinez and Agnes Obel while demanding her own style and vision of ‘Australian Gothic’. “Picnic” is a bold and confident debut from an artist ready to make her mark.
“Writing Picnic was really exciting because I’d just evolved into a new direction musically and lyrically. I very much connected with the story of Picnic at Hanging Rock and wanted to express my own interpretation of its themes. Wanting it to sound slightly delirious, lost and off-kilter,” said Tia. “The verses paint a picture of where the story is set and as the song continues, the lyrics embody the feeling of recognising something larger than life developing among us.”
“I wanted the song to speak to a means of power and to throw people off their guard, ha. Especially when that beat drops in the chorus. I wrote the chorus as a simple, blunt expression to separate the storytelling in the verses and knew within the first half of writing the song it was going to be one of my favourites. I’m really glad it turned out to be my debut single. Picnic really feels like the birth of Tia Tamora and is the right foundation piece for my Australian Gothic vision.”
“Picnic” is a cinematic prize, like the turn of the century novel it's based on ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’, a slice of Australian Gothic folklore delivered as a dream within a dream. It is a supernatural outback odyssey that draws on the same red earth bloodline that casts Cave and Ellis as outlaws.
If you listen closely you'll hear the breathing landscape itself - field recordings of the Peninsula where Tamora lives. “Picnic” holds a strong sense of place and identity, with guest 'vocals' provided by the local kookaburras, dogs, flies and magpies that literally inhabit the song.
Nestled amongst this wildlife lives a song that speaks to Australia's bloody dichotomy - the verses are beautiful and alluring - the choruses are menacing and brutal - 'and if you aren't invited get fucked'.
The music video for "Picnic", completely shot on 16mm film in one day, plays on the themes of time as referenced in the classic 1967 Australian novel 'Picnic At Hanging Rock'. The book’s author, Joan Lindsay (who coincidentally wrote the book at her home on the Mornington Peninsula not far from where Tamora lives) utilised time and the stopping of clocks to speak to the supernatural dream state of the tale. Tamora’s video elaborates on these themes through the interplay of still frame, forward motion and backwards motion to emphasise an unsettling time warp. Further to Tamora’s vision, the displacement of time in the outback speaks to a greater Australian isolation.
Emerging from the shadows appears Tia Tamora, 19-year-old Victorian songstress with her grim folk songbook of the Australian psyche. Growing up on the Mornington Peninsula, Tamora was always drawn to the strange undercurrents of the Oz landscape, and now armed with her pen, piano and voice, she weaves a bold new thread of Australian Gothic.
Currently bunkered down at Tender Trap Studios in Melbourne creating her debut album, Tia presents the very first taste of what's to come in the form of debut single “Picnic”. Inspired by the turn of the century tale ‘Picnic At Hanging Rock’, the track is alluring, unpredictable, beautiful and brutal and a perfect taste of the path Tamora treads.
Drawing on a rich history of supernatural folklore, Tamora plays in the kind of territory The Bad Seeds thrived in, while blending turn of the century aesthetics with the contemporary production explored by modern artists like Sevdaliza and Jonny Greenwood.
Tia Tamora may be an emerging artist taking her first steps on the music landscape, but with a striking vision and firm hold on who she is, these first steps will no doubt make a lasting impression.
"Picnic" is available on all streaming platforms now.