Hatchie: “I’m still figuring it out”

Brisbane newcomer Hatchie is making waves with her shimmery, dream-like pop.

“It sounds like I’m lying but, for the last couple of years, I’ve always wanted to come back here,” says Brisbane native Harriette Pilbeam, aka Hatchie.

We’re sat in the park across the road from Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club, where she’s due to play her first ever UK gig as part of Live at Leeds, the day after her 25th birthday.

This is the first stop on Hatchie’s brief UK tour since her debut single ‘Try’ became something of a sensation in spring of last year. Record labels, agencies and managers were clambering to sign her after the tune was released by the Australian equivalent of BBC Introducing, Triple J Unearthed.

Pilbeam had been in other Brisbane-based bands, such as Go Violets and Babaganouj, but now she’s enjoying “being able to do whatever I want without to make any compromises.” That experience has given her the freedom to find her own voice. The success of ‘Try’ is no fluke.

Such a confident and self-assured debut, ‘Try’ is a twinkling, dream pop treat, full of gorgeous harmonies led by a voice that, when the chorus hits, brings to mind Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser. It’s a song that, funnily enough, grabbed the ear of another Cocteau Twin, Robin Guthrie.

Guthrie went on to remix Hatchie’s second single, ‘Sure’, which veers more towards her love of shoegaze. “He wasn’t even really a dream collaborator because I would never even dream that that was possible. It wasn’t even an option in my mind!” she recalls.

While shoegaze is a big part of the Hatchie sound, citing Slowdive, The Sundays and of course Cocteau Twins as influences, a lot of her songs, ‘Sugar & Spice’ and ‘Sleep’ in particular, have gigantic pop hooks front and centre.

“I like pop as well as cooler alternative shoegazey music, so I like mixing those kind of elements. I wanted it to be a bit brighter and a bit glossier as opposed to just being reverbed out,” she says.

The end result is a sound that blends the melancholy of breakups and one-sided loves with bright, dazzling melodies; very much sticking to the ethos that sugar and spice makes all things nice.

But, even though her EP ‘Sugar & Spice’ is full of these glittering jewels, this isn’t so much indicative of the Hatchie of today, more an insight into where she’s come from.

“I thought it was good to start off with pop and then work my way out from that and refine it in that way. ‘Try’, ‘Sugar & Spice’ and ‘Sleep’ are all about two years old; I’d had them recorded and ready to go, and it just made sense to release those songs.

This new, evolved Hatchie is a far cry from the self-confessed “worrier” who “put things off because I’m worried about it not being the best it can possibly be.”

And as she takes to the stage at Brudenell’s Community Room, she has no need to worry. With the early afternoon sun shining outside, her shimmering, dreamy hooks sound magical. It’s the soundtrack to a teen romance, of daydreams, heartbreaks and anxieties, all with a hopeful twist and spectacular pop hooks.

Whatever this evolved Hatchie is going to sound like, it’s sure to have even more people clambering to work with her.

Taken from the July issue of Dork, order a copy here. Hatchie’s EP ‘Sugar & Spice’ is out now.

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Hatchie: “I’m still figuring it out”

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