Following a lauded performance at the 20th Anniversary National Indigenous Music Awards, ARIA-nominated, multi-award-winning lutruwita/Tasmania-based artist, activist, author and proud Warnindhilyagwa woman hailing from Groote Eylandt & Milyakburra/Bickerton Island Emily Wurramara (she/her) has shared her long-awaited second studio album NARA. A self-described “rebirth” album titled for the Anindilyakwa word meaning “nothing”, NARA beckons its listeners through mystical portals on a varicoloured journey of growth, tracing intense highs and lows – from winning accolades and taking her music across the world, losing her house in a fire, giving birth to her daughter and struggling with her mental health – to her ultimate arrival at peace in the knowledge that “It was when I had nothing, I realised I had everything”.
Where her debut album Milyakburra (2018) leaned heavily into folk / blues / roots sounds, NARA expands into widescreen, surprising spaces without losing the organic timelessness of Wurramara’s songwriting as the multi-talented artist breaks free of all expectations.
With NARA, which includes features from Wurramarra’s teen idol Lisa Mitchell, Tasman Keith, Zeppelin Hamilton (Velvet Trip) and her little brother Arringarri in his debut, Emily Wurramara proves she can’t be boxed in; skilfully weaving a cohesive tapestry that draws from indie, alt-pop, RnB, soul, seaside-folk, roots/blues/rock, bard-like compositions, pop/electronic “protest club music” and ambient influences as she shares her epic journey of dizzying highs and devastating lows, rich in introspection, DGAF honesty, and a commitment to growth through the good and the bad – “you need both to truly understand peace” she asserts.
Co-produced by Wurramara and Kuya James aka James Mangohig (A.B. Original, Daniel Johns) and recorded at Boat Ramp Studios on Larrakia Country, Garramilla/Darwin – where Emily Wurramara spent much of her childhood and holds close to her heart – NARA marks her first foray as a producer. Also playing synths for the first time, for the band Wurramara conjured her nearest and dearest – who were there for her through it all – to capture the album’s celestial potency: Mangohig on bass & synths, Ben Edgar (Gotye, Gurrumul, Angus & Julia Stone) on guitar & bass (and mixing duties in a first for the acclaimed musician), Rowan Dally (Kuya James, DRAFTDAY) on drums, plus Caiti Baker, Serina Pech, John Coulehan, Juran Timu, Zelda Pomery, Mangohig and more on backing vocals.
Written over the course of 13 years – from high school, to her public profile flourishing following the release of her Black Smoke EP (2016) & Milyakburra (2018) – as Wurramara took her music to perform at the Australian High Commission in Papua New Guinea & to stages with the likes of Uncle Archie Roach, Mavis Staples and Missy Higgins, became a mother, struggled with thoughts of leaving this world, and lost her house in a devastating fire in 2019 (organising & performing at a fundraising festival for her building’s other residents) before making a life-changing move from Meanjin/Brisbane to lutruwita/Tasmania – the 12 songs on NARA are the testament of a soul now finally at peace, making the music she wants to make, anchored by a deep love, respect and appreciation for community, family and country – always with a sense of humour and purpose: “I’m not here to fuck spiders,” she says.
Release: August 23rd, 2024, ABC Music