The hottest band in the world at the moment is, for many, Boygenius. The supergroup of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus are touring the world, lighting up social media, and generally just having a grand old time together.
In Melbourne, there is a similar group making equally exquisite music together: Folk Bitch Trio.
Interestingly, it’s a group that has previously drawn the admiration of Bridgers before, with the singer-songwriter hailing them while reviewing several triple j Unearthed artists in 2021.
“Boygenius if it was from the 40’s or something,” said Bridgers, which is not a bad summation. Folk Bitch Trio possess much cleaner harmonies and lusher instrumentation, more closely recalling The Staves or Julia Jacklin if she cloned herself twice.
As a group, Heide Peverelle, Gracie Sinclaire, and Jeanie Pilkington have finely honed their introspective and thoughtful songs, and their balance as a trio has captivated audiences at Port Fairy Folk Festival, Queenscliff Music Festival and many more places.
Folk Bitch Trio have made double singles their creative thing – “Lost” and “Shivers” followed “If I Was a Man” and “Friendly Neighbour”, a dual collaboration with Bones and Jones last year – and they returned earlier this month with two more offerings.
“I Heard” is pensive and pure, their delicate harmonies creating goosebumps in the way early Fleet Foxes could, but it’s “Analogue” that really stands out.
The song is a perfect distillation of what it feels like to be young and desiring control of one’s life. “I want catharsis / I want love / I want divine inspiration sent from above,” they sing, their voices full of yearning, but the trio’s thoughts aren’t always so romanticised.
“How you love is not always analogue / Keep on dreaming of the ways you get it wrong,” they whisper twice, because Folk Bitch Trio’s outlook is realistic. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, don’t worry about getting things wrong now and again, they’re saying to listeners; “Try again. Fail again. Fail better,” as Beckett wrote.
Folk Bitch Trio would do well to continue releasing double singles as richly varied as “Analogue” and “I Heard”. There’s just something so delightfully unexpected about a group whose music is resplendent in such gorgeous harmonies and confessional songwriting having such a prickly name. Folk Bitch Trio wish to upend expectations.
Folk Bitch Trio’s “Analogue”/”I Heard” is out now.
