If you’re releasing solo music outside of your prominent band, don’t overthink the project’s moniker. Just follow Annabel Blackman’s example: she simply goes by Solo Career.
You might not immediately recognise Blackman’s own name, but you’ll know her work. She’s the guitarist for Sydney post-punk band Body Type, who broke through in a big way in 2022 with their debut album, Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising.
That record was hailed far and wide across Australia, including featuring in Rolling Stone AU/NZ‘s Best Australian Albums of 2022 list.
“It takes a special band to enter the exhausted landscape of post-punk music in 2022 and make it sound refreshing, but that’s exactly what Body Type achieved on Everything Is Dangerous but Nothing’s Surprising,” we praised.
“One of the best Australian debuts in many years, there’s a reason the band have been invited to support the likes of Wolf Alice on tour recently; everything is dangerous but there’s nothing surprising about the success of Body Type.”
As her main band’s career was ascending quickly, Blackman also had a solo project on the go, dropping a handful of promising releases under the Solo Career name.
She revived her bedroom-pop project last week with “Venus on speed dial” (currently vying with Ringlets for best title of the year), her first Solo Career release in four years.
The Momma-esque single contends with the discombobulations of desire, and how wanting someone can so often come at the expense of your own personhood. “This one is dedicated to being messed around by someone and going a bit loopy, and the experience of morphing yourself into whatever you think someone might like you to be,” Blackman explains.
“Venus in speed dial” revels in darker territory than the typically sunnier climes of bedroom-pop, Blackman wielding fuzzy guitars and darting synths to create an intimidating atmosphere. Her blasé vocals, dripping with I’m-so-over-this attitude, are the perfect vessel for the lyrics.
Blackman collaborated with director Gus Macleod on the accompanying music video, which you can watch below. Shot entirely in the former’s garage (with some help from her father to create additional backdrops), the clip repurposes a homemade window backdrop Blackman created herself.
While we await a new Body Type album, Blackman will release her debut album as Solo Career, titled Interior Delirium, this July via Dinosaur City Records.
The record, Blackman says, has been in the works for many years, made during Body Types tours and sessions. According to a press release, Interior Delirium is “about the absurdity of identity – how we perform for others and ourselves, the puppetry that plays out across culture, and the freak impulses that startle our sense of self.”
Blackman’s first solo EP, The Sentimentalist, which impressively recalled Broadcast at times with its beautifully spectral synths, was a slightly underrated Australian release in 2021, so hopes are high for this full-length debut.
Solo Career’s “Venus on speed dial” is out now. Interior Delirium is out Friday, July 11th via Dinosaur City Records.
