Music

For Yuwaalaraay singer and writer Nardi Simpson, author of Song of the Crocodile, a sense of place is fundamental to all her work.

Over the past year, parenthood and the pandemic have given ARIA award-winning artist Mo’Ju the chance to think big about her next album.

The untimely death of the iconic producer SOPHIE brings to an end a spectacular career that reshaped modern pop.

Composer Liza Lim is old-school – she still handwrites her scores, as the tactile act of notation flows into her music-making.

The bleak and brilliant confessional songs of Sarah Mary Chadwick’s singular repertoire draw on psychoanalysis and her Catholic childhood.

In 2020, the inequities between major-label artists and indie musicians became untenable – and it has led to a surging politicisation of the music industry.

The Avalanches’ third album is their most explicitly spiritual record – and their best yet.

Snoee Badman – the first Australian to release an EP from inside a maximum-security prison – embodies a punk defiance to institutional brutality. “I have a lot of violence to write about. Jail is not good for anyone … Prison gives you a lot of hatred.”

New Zealand Spotify star Benee is preternaturally talented, but her debut album isn’t enough to drag her out of sludgy easy-listening playlists.

The Bull sisters took their gospel-singing Tongan background and perfectly blended harmonies and carved a decades-long career as both quintessential musician’s musicians and popular favourites. “I like the challenge of creating something out of nothing,” says younger sister Linda. “And then what happens at the end of that process is you get a song that you can sing for years.”