FEATURE: Spotlight: Tash Sultana — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Tash Sultana

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AS their fantastic…

album, Terra Firma, came out on 19th February, I think it is a good time to laud the magnificent Tash Sultana. The twenty-five-year-old Melbourne native (who identifies as non-binary and uses ‘they’/’them’ pronouns) released the celebrated Flow State in 2018. Terra Firma has picked up some great reviews and, to me, it is one of this year’s strongest albums. I would encourage people to buy the album, as Sultana is one of the most eclectic and strongest musicians in the world:

“Tash Sultana release their second album on Lonely Land Records, via Sony Music. The follow up to the critically acclaimed Flow State from two years ago, Terra Firma is a 14 track album.

Returning to earth after the dizzying heights of success, Terra Firma is the sound of a more content and grounded Tash. Spiritually, the album finds the artist reconnecting to their roots, reminding themselves who they are and what it means to be human. Musically however, its 14 tracks take root into far-reaching sonic territory. Almost every note on Terra Firma was once again composed, arranged, performed, engineered and produced by Tash. But to kick-start a new era, the solo star – for the first time – opened themselves up to collaborators, starting with a 10-day writing session with fellow ARIA-winning Australian musician Matt Corby and producer Dann Hume (Courtney Barnett, Amy Shark, Angus and Julia Stone)”.

I am going to bring in a couple of reviews for Terra Firma to round off. Before then, a couple of recent interviews caught my eye. I am intrigued by Tash Sultana. One suspects that they would rather not be promoting and doing the media rounds; as we are isolated and the pandemic is not going anywhere, they seems more open to interviews. I love how laidback they are. Their music, though, is so layered and nuanced. One can hear an album like Terra Firma and go back again and again to discover new things.

It is not surprising that Tash Sultana is so accomplished. Having picked up the guitar as a very small child, they then progressed to busking and has been honing her chops for years now. I think they are going to be a huge star of the future. With each release, we can see more of their genius and incredible songwriting. Sultana’s voice, reported to be around six octaves, allows them so much flexibility as an artist. It is one of the most versatile and stunning voices I have heard in a long time. It is exciting seeing where Sultana will head in years to come. With such a strong album out, I just had to include Tash Sultana in Spotlight! I want to quote from an NME interview from late last year. We got to hear how Sultana was handling lockdown and how their second alum was coming along:

“Sultana is seeing the upsides of lockdown. Without it, they would have been juggling an overseas tour with wrapping up and releasing ‘Terra Firma’. Now, with dates cancelled, and “an extension for the album, which is fucking great”, Sultana can focus on one thing at a time. “I’ll be spending until July finishing this thing off. Hang with my partner, my dog and go to the studio. I needed to learn how to slow the fuck down.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Dara Munnis

The album title ‘Terra Firma’ itself hints at Sultana’s newfound groundedness. “Terra firma is the ground, the earth, you put your feet on it to remember where you are, what you’re from,” they explain. “It’s a reminder that we are only human at the end of the day. Part of one big system and no one really knows the answers to how and why.”

When restrictions do ease, domestic touring will likely be first to fire back up. “But actually leaving the country or being allowed into another one?” says Sultana. “It’s going to take a while. I don’t reckon that anyone’s going to be playing gigs in 2020. It’s all good for people to give the green light on bringing the gathering thing back but it’s the fear among people. It will take a bit of time for people to not be scared anymore of big crowds.”

Sultana wanted to help to keep their fans active and positive. They’ve got other #iso tips, too. “I’ve done some pretty intensive work on myself for the last little while,” they say. “When you’re anxious, that’s a very high arousal state so you want to combat that with something that’s very low arousal every day, maybe once, maybe twice, could be 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Practicing piano is a low arousal for me, or scales on the guitar.

“For people feeling anxious and shit, this is the perfect time to learn an instrument or start drawing or painting. Mental stimulation is important. Social stimulation is important! So we can’t see each other much but you can get on the phone. Imagine dealing with this 100 years ago? That would have been really fucking hard.”

When things normalise, unsurprisingly, Sultana has a plan. “I don’t go out and I don’t have beers but, my god, I’m gonna go out and have a fucking beer when this is finished. Like, I actually will actually go out. I will have a beer”.

I am pleased that Sultana might get to play some gigs very soon. As things are better and less bleak in Australia right now, it would be encouraging to see live music swing back. There will be a definite hunger for Tash Sultana in their homeland. As we learn from an interview from The Guardian from a few weeks back, the road to stability and success has been a tough one for Sultana:

“Eight years after the Australian singer strummed and sung their way out of a seven-month-long drug-induced psychosis; seven years since becoming a solo busking sensation on Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall; five years after a bedroom performance of their psychedelic-reggae song Jungle clocked a million YouTube views in five days (it’s now had more than 94m); 2.5 years since becoming the first artist without a debut album release to sell out three dates at London’s Brixton Academy; and a year after slipping an engagement ring on their girlfriend’s finger during a Maldives holiday, Sultana is revelling in a groundedness that saturates every note of their dreamy sophomore album, Terra Firma.

“I’m just being and experiencing and loving and trying to be better at everything I do – trying to be kinder, trying to speak nicer, think nicer, play better, sing better, organise better … and that just applied across to the music side of things and that became Terra Firma.

“Terra Firma is a projection of my earth, my universe – so it’s the story of how I’ve gotten to being 25.”

As the story goes, Sultana’s grandfather gave them a guitar at the age of three. By 13, they were using a fake ID to play open mic nights around Melbourne, turning up at school “smelling of cigarettes and beer”. Teachers warned: “Your grades are slipping, you’re not going to amount to anything”, but despite a psychotic breakdown, Sultana finished year 12 and took to busking with their one-person band set-up (electric guitar, RC-30 loop station, milk crates and trolley) and a work ethic that before long saw them land a manager, release their first EP, Notion, stun Australian festival crowds, and score two songs in Triple J’s 2016 Hottest 100 (including Jungle at No 3).

Word was spreading about the diminutive, barefoot multi-instrumentalist with a six-octave range (trying to sing along to Sultana’s songs is an exercise in humility) who could send crowds ballistic with layered looping, Hendrix-esque guitar solos, panpipe beatboxing and acrobatic leaps. Sultana played Coachella in 2018, four months before releasing their debut album, Flow State (named for the trance they slip into while performing), which won an Aria for best blues and roots album.

The road to stardom was peppered with burnout, a loss of privacy and mental health struggles. In late 2017, Sultana hit the reset button, writing on Instagram: “I thought I was going to die from the shadow my mind cast.”

With the help of a therapist, naturopath, yoga and surfing, Sultana turned to sobriety and a supplements regime.

These days, Sultana says: “I’m just a bit of a loner – I socialise when I want to or when I need to. When I go out and see people and their eyes start rolling to the back of their heads, I just smokebomb and leave and go to bed. I’m convinced that nothing good happens after midnight.”

Covid willing, Sultana is playing Womadelaide in March and Bluesfest in April, and has European dates booked later in the year, although the musician concedes those have a “slim to none” chance of going ahead. “The kicks in the gut don’t hurt so much any more. You almost expect nothing, so that when things do happen, you’re just, ‘Wow!’ It really happened!’”.

I will bring things to a close very soon. First, I want to show how the media have been responding to the terrific Terra Firma. This is what DORK had to offer when they sat down when they heard the album:

“The title directly translates as ‘firm ground’ and perfectly situates Sultana in their career right now. Having transformed from busker to in-demand performer, it inspires a need to return to earth after the dizzying heights of success. ‘Crop Circles’ shows this effortlessly as honeyed vocals melt into the smooth instrumentals to create an unwinding, relaxing melody. Sultana builds layer upon layer in multi-dimensional jams like ‘Coma’, creating a truly hypnotic wall of sound.

Playing with a combination of soul, funk, RnB, folk, rock, and hip hop, ‘Terra Firma’ is a true mix: “Aretha Franklin meets Bon Iver meets John Mayer meets whatever,” they explain. To describe ‘Terra Firma’ as an effortless listen is to ignore the deeper significance of the philosophical questions, as it asks: “But where’s the wisdom? Where’s the knowledge?”

With such depth, it’s an album that both reveals and rewards”.

I have been listening to Terra Firma a bit, and I am finding so much comfort and strength from the album. It is such a stunning album. I am sure I will be coming back to it throughout the year. Even though Tash Sultana is amazing through Terra Firma, I think they will get stronger as the years go by.

I want to bring in another positive review for Terra Firma. It is an album that has been getting a lot of love and affection:

“For an artist that developed much of their sound on an instantly recognisable diet of guitar licks and loops, Sultana embraces a broadening of their sound here. “Crop Circles” goes jazz and welcomes that full band sound that now accompanies the traditional solo artist when playing live. With its horns and jazz piano, “Crop Circles”, is an early but completely welcome highlight. Meanwhile, “Greed”, an obvious commentary on wealth distribution in society, features a couple verses of near rap delivered bars. That’s all before the chorus is sung in Sultana’s trademark slinky styling.

The album, even with its highs like “Beyond the Pine”, “Sweet & Dandy” and “Willow Tree ft. Jerome Farah”, does at times leave you feeling like you’re listening to the same song on repeat. This isn’t to say it’s a negative. If anything it proves the consistency of Sultana as an holistic artist. But, despite the across-the-board quality of Terra Firma, the lack of noticeable style change across the majority of the album does detract from the listener’s ability to enjoy the album continually from cover to cover”.

Now, taking what I just said with a grain of salt, the tracks on Terra Firma that do break away in sound – like all five and half minutes of “Coma” – could go down as some of Sultana’s all time great songs. With its wandering, almost Bon Jovi “Wanted Dead or Alive” sound in the opening four minutes, before a cataclysmic crescendo, “Coma” is almost certain to become a fan favourite once live shows return.

With much of the Tash Sultana we’ve come to know and love protruding prominently throughout Terra Firma, there’s enough quality and licks of pure class to make you wonder just how far the Tash Sultana juggernaut could go”.

If you have not discovered the music of Tash Sultana, seek them out and explore what they have put out so far. I hope that they get to come to the U.K. when things are safer – Sultana has a pretty healthy fanbase here. I shall leave things there…but I was eager to spotlight an artist I have been following for a couple of years now. Listening to Tash Sultana’s music and one can hear so much…