Indie-folk duo Charm of Finches have stolen hearts with their graceful ethereality, like previous single “Canyon” which has so far garnered love from Double J, major community radio like RRR and PBS, and online press as Rhythms Magazine. Now the sixth single, and our final taste before the album release, “Heavy” is out today, with album Wonderful Oblivion to follow on October 22.

As with the rest of the album, “Heavy” was recorded at home by sisters Mabel and Ivy Windred-Wornes. Acclaimed Canadian producer Daniel Ledwell co-produced remotely and the track was mastered by Melbourne’s Isaac Barter. The multi-talented women shared the instrumental load, with Mabel on vocals and cello, and Ivy on vocals and violin, with Ledwell adding nuanced percussion and a glossy indie-pop shimmer to their sound.

Never shying away from substantial lyricism, the pair explained the song was about living with a constant, subtle sense of impending doom about the future of the planet. “This song is an expression of the sadness and frustration we feel about the state of the world. The song reflects on how, in this modern world, we have in many ways lost our connection to nature. Consumerism and a culture of narcissism are coping mechanisms to fill the void where that future shock, emptiness and sadness would be.”

Charm of Finches’ third studio album Wonderful Oblivion follows the release of “Heavy” closely, due out on October 22 through New York-based label AntiFragile Music. Mabel and Ivy explain of their latest masterpiece, “With this album, we feel we have emerged from the deeply interior realm and grief of ‘Your Company’, which was really a healing album, into a completely new mood. Working remotely with Daniel Ledwell in Canada, we were in a place of new possibilities and adventure, both with sounds, as well as the stories we wanted to tell. We feel there was a spirit of discovery and playfulness.

“There are new landscapes, not just emotional, but outward-looking and far horizons. “Heavy” is the first song where we have expressed our fears about the environmental crisis. Lyrically we were inspired by artists like Sufjan Stevens, Joanna Newsom and Aldous Harding to take a finer paintbrush and create vivid scenes with absolute minute details.”

The 11-track album (“Into The Well” being an instrumental vignette) traverses the melancholy of lost childhood (“As A Child”), a missed, departed friend (“Goodnight”), the environmental crisis-inspired future shock of “Heavy”, to the lofty heights of “Canyon,” with its soaring multi-layered harmonies over dream landscapes.

“We’ve reflected on how lots of the songs can be linked to the title Wonderful Oblivion. ‘Gravity’ is about false hope and reality-denying positivity and how it can be counterproductive – it’s like choosing to live in wonderful oblivion (denial) to mask pain and fear. ‘Canyon’, inspired by dreams, is another sort of wonderful oblivion and ‘As A Child’ mourns the loss of the wonderful oblivion of childhood where there were no worries, only wonder and faith in goodness,” the pair explained to Ramona Magazine.

The album comes after their 2019 sophomore album Your Company, which won the 2020 Independent Music Awards’ Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Album and was nominated for the 2020 Music Victoria Best Folk Album Award and 2020 Australian Music Prize. The pair are playing album launch shows at Westernport Yach Club on October 30, Lighthouse Arts Collective on November 5, Brunswick Ballroom on November 26 ​and are about to announce their 2022 April/May UK tour.

“HEAVY” IS OUT NOW
WONDERFUL OBLIVION IS OUT OCTOBER 22