Elsie Lange has released her first single of 2025, “Heatwave”, and it’s no wonder it’s an introspective song.
After spending a decade entrenched in Melbourne’s independent music community, Lange made the major decision to return to Alice Springs, the city where she grew up.
That’s why the accompanying music video for “Heatwave” is shot back home – on Ilparpa range to be specific, where Lange used to sneak away to after school. The clip, which is directed by Eremaya Albrecht, is a lo-fi ode to landscape, home, and family.
“Thrown together on a particularly hot and sweaty day, the music video is a reflection of Elsie’s lyrics, the heat, nostalgia, and imagery, rendered in a heatwave of home,” Albrecht says.
A songwriter like Lange was never going to give up music when leaving Melbourne, and “Heatwave” will feature on her forthcoming album, The Normal Discontents of Living, set for release in May.
She finalised it in Alice Springs, a casual 2000km from its producer, the always excellent Liam (Snowy) Halliwell, who lives in Melbourne. It’s set to be a short album – stretching for just seven songs – but that’s exactly what Lange wanted.
“This record was recorded over a couple of years… I decided that I wasn’t going to try force the songs to become uniform. I’m not uniform. But I think because of that they highlight the breadth of feeling and inspiration,” she says. “I chose to create a shorter album because I wanted these seven songs to shine. I love all the instrumentation and clarity Snowy brought to these tracks, he helped make calls I wasn’t sure how to. I feel honoured to have him produce the majority of the songs.”
Artists often talk about how a record of theirs is deeply personal, how it means so much to them, but for Lange this really rings true.
Now residing so far away from the city and people that nurtured and supported her for so long, The Normal Discontents of Living is an aural time capsule for Lange, featuring contributions from her longterm collaborators and bandmates Alana Wilson, Calum Newton, Bridget Chilver, and Sam Miles.
“The beautiful thing is I’ve worked with these people, who are now some of my closest friends, forever. This record belongs also to them – without them they’d still be voice memos,” Lange says. “These songs, I think, form a body of work that all touch on love, self-love, truth and resolution. It feels weird, and exciting, to be setting them free.”
“Heatwave” follows recent single “Sally”, which will also feature on Lange’s forthcoming album. “Sally” resulted from the musician challenging herself to write one song per day, inspired by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and his book, How to Write One Song.
“This song is about someone you see needing love, who doesn’t know how to ask for it and is constantly let down. Sally is a few of my favourite characters, friends and foes rolled into one. I love her,” Lange says of “Sally”.
Elsie Lange’s “Heatwave” is out now. The Normal Discontents of Living is out May 2nd via Wing Sing Records (pre-order/pre-save here).
