This was published 1 year ago
A ‘cosmic country’ singer stakes her claim with a dream Joshua Tree album
Meditation calmed the days but there were some restless nights in the three-and-a-half years since Freya Josephine Hollick started work on her new album in California’s famous Joshua Tree.
This week, any concerns the old-time folk and country singer had about the album emerging into the world have been put to bed.
“I want to give and receive that energy. It’s unmatched by anything”: Freya Josephine Hollick, whose new album has finally emerged into the world. Credit: Maximum Person
“I was lucky,” Hollick says. “I had a bit of a spiritual thing happen to me before lockdowns. I got quite heavily into meditation and yoga ... perfect timing. Otherwise, it could have been a drunken mess.”
To celebrate The Real World’s release, fans whooped and hollered last week in a rollicking bar in Melbourne’s Thornbury where the Ballarat-based Hollick took centre stage with her band.
A week earlier at the same venue, she was in stripped-back mode, accompanied by guitarist Tom Brooks, who was also in Joshua Tree for The Real World sessions in March 2019.
“You feel like you’re giving something ... being very raw and open when you’re playing music,” Hollick tells The Age and Sydney Morning Herald before stepping on stage.
“You’re in this space of deep presence and the audience give back to you. And that’s the catalyst for me: I want to give and receive that energy. It’s unmatched by anything.”
It’s a huge feeling of relief, of standing in my power and staking my claim in the world.
Freya Josephine Hollick
With her sometimes quirky “cosmic country” brew, including the new album’s cracking opening track Nobody’s No Better Than No One, Hollick tells heartfelt stories. Dig a little deeper and you can hear the influence of former Byrds singer Gene Clark, the soulful strains of Ann Peebles and the raw honesty of country and blues star Lucinda Williams.
On stage, Hollick has a calm, confident manner, yet she rarely takes herself too seriously. Her demeanour might stem partly from meditation but her self-assuredness has evolved over many years of writing, recording and performing.
Ballarat plays a major role in the 33-year-old’s life. It’s still home and her close-knit family live nearby. It’s where her love of music blossomed – from discovering Elvis Presley’s gospel leanings to the early Americana style of Gene Clark’s No Other album, which made such a profound impact that Hollick tattooed the title on her left shoulder.
In the years since finding her own voice, she has played alongside some of country music’s brightest stars, including the late Justin Townes Earle. A dream of recording in America gradually took shape and a grant from Creative Victoria helped make it a reality.
Before The Real World, Hollick released albums in 2014, 2016 and 2018. For the past decade – excluding COVID-19 lockdowns – she has juggled two or three hospitality jobs at a time, while finding precious moments to write songs.
“There’s a certain level of grit that comes about when you really work hard for something,” she says. “A certain level of ‘I earned this’ and that feels good.”
Hollick has been through huge changes since her debut album.
“There was a relationship breakdown, global pandemic, a change of management and a record label shift,” she says. “And my daughter, who is seven-and-a-half now, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. So it’s been a long, arduous time but there’s also been an undercurrent of joy.
“I’ve grown so much since we started recording this album and it’s a huge feeling of relief, of standing in my power and staking my claim in the world.”
After writing the songs, The Real World started taking shape at David Catching’s Rancho De La Luna studio in Joshua Tree, where Iggy Pop, Arctic Monkeys, Kurt Vile and many others have recorded since 1993.
Hollick was joined in the studio by Lucinda Williams’ band, Buick 6, during a week of recording. It was a carefully orchestrated plan that fell into place when her funding was approved.
“I hadn’t had a holiday in years and I was coming back home after a week off, back to my cafe job, when my phone dinged, and it was a message saying ‘you’ve received a grant to go to Joshua Tree’,” she says. “I was crying, I couldn’t believe it was happening.
“The bones of the record happened there ... the rest of the record needed a lot more work when we came back, but having guys like [Buick 6 guitarist] Stuart Mathis and [drummer] Butch Norton in the studio, out in the desert, was incredible and they’re the nicest guys.”
“When lockdowns were finally over, I knew it was time to get out there and do some gigs”: Freya Josephine Hollick.Credit: Maximum Person
The album’s release was put on hold as the pandemic brought touring to a shuddering halt.
Hollick used the downtime to rework several songs, while releasing Impossible to Love, the achingly cool Vivian, June, Dolly & Jolene, plus Me and Mine as singles.
“I watched friends release their albums into the wind during that time and I was like ‘I can’t afford to do that, I have to release this properly’,” she says. “I wanted to be as proud [of the album] as I could possibly be and then release it.
“I’ve been impatient in the past and the lesson I’ve learned through meditating was to steel your resolve. It will happen when it’s supposed to happen.
There’s a swag of new, yet to be recorded songs tucked away too, meanwhile Hollick is rapt to be back on stage with her band.
“When I was pregnant, I stopped writing songs,” she says. “Through lockdowns I did the same. I just thought ‘this is the life for me. I’m going to grow veggies in the garden, write poetry, meditate and never leave my house again’.
“When lockdowns were finally over, I knew it was time to get out there and do some gigs.”
Performing again – and writing – has been cathartic.
“Songwriting is something I’ve been doing since I was five,” she says. “The words are the most important part, for me.”
The Real World is out on Cheersquad Records.
For tour information, go to freyajosephinehollick.com
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