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Photo credit WILK

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Photo credit WILK

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Like a cloud of folk-soaked smoke curling down a hazy highway, the new single Run Away With Me out today from technicolour folk rock collective The Elsewheres welds gritty textures laden with oscillating brassy licks and fluttering guitarwork. An ode to freedom and intoxicating romance, Run Away With Me also arrives today with an accompanying music video, seamlessly complementing the raucous and tongue-in-cheek single that will also be launched on full display on Thursday 10 August at Melbourne’s The Curtin Hotel.

A release years in the making, Run Away With Me simultaneously nods to the songwriting prowess of Paul Simon, John Lennon, David Bowie and Passenger, as well as a distinct nod to the anecdotal stylings of Bob Dylan throughout proceedings. Simultaneously playful and powerful, Run Away With Me is also equally steeped in fantasy and reality as lead singer and songwriter Oliver Northam explains, “Run Away With Me captures a fantasy I’ve always had of an unexpected meeting between two unlikely lovers who, although uncertain, long to abandon their mundane lives. For me, it is a story of freedom and the beauty of a recklessly romantic love. Although fictional, Run Away With Me does draw from real moments and memories. The inspiration for the ‘topless bar’ in which our characters meet in the opening verse comes from my first job out of high school as a pianist at a burlesque bar. It’s within that smoky, sordid world that I see these characters breathing.”

Brought to life during the songwriting process with Oliver working alongside Ella Hooper (Killing Heidi) and Alex Gow (Oh Mercy), Run Away With Me ultimately reached its final form when Melbourne composer Lee Bradshaw reached out to Oliver during lockdown, with Michael Bradshaw mixing, and mastering by Jeremy Chua. From sleep-deprived nights to its final polished form, Run Away With Me not only presents a mesmerising antidote to mundanity; it also significantly stems deep into The Elsewheres’ creative journey, as Oliver reveals, “As the oldest song in our set, this little sucker has been with us in every crowded bar and every empty room for years. It’s the first song we ever played together as a band and it’s one of our absolute favourites because it can’t be played without smiling. I wrote this tune way back in high school and after such a long journey in my pocket it’s a very proud moment to finally be setting it free.”

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Working alongside Matt Wallace (director) and Lawrence Phelan (producer), The Elsewheres’ accompanying music video is a beautiful exploration of love on the run. “Matt wrote a fantastic cinematic concept of a runaway couple galivanting through the countryside. We were all immediately in love with the idea…” says Oliver of the heart-warming clip. Filmed around the roiling hills just beyond where Oliver grew up in Harcourt, he notes “There’s an old abandoned out house which I used to climb on as a boy, and I knew this had to play a role. Matt had also written in a scene where we would sneak into an old ladies’ house and steal some freshly baked cookies, and so it was absolutely hilarious when mum stepped up to the plate for her debut role. She nailed it.”

Consisting of a formidable 8-piece squad armed with blazing brass, toe-tappin’ grooves and vocal harmonies to make you weak at the knees, The Elsewheres champion honest storytelling coated in raucous and thumping arrangements via their vivid folk-rock flair. Helmed by Oliver’s vulnerable and searingly intimate narratives, The Elsewheres resoundingly emerged in 2019 with multiple festival appearances, including Newport Folk Festival and Nightjar Festival, while their debut single Into His Arms snagged community radio support and spent five consecutive weeks in triple j Unearthed’s Top 10 Chart. Alongside Oliver’s pursuits beyond The Elsewheres, which spans being selected as one of seven songwriters to represent Australia in the London MX Music Exchange, winning the Push Songwriting Competition in 2020 and working as a contemporary musician at The Australian Ballet School, Oliver and The Elsewheres have a special launch show locked and loaded in Melbourne on Thursday 10 August at The Curtin Hotel. And, as Oliver reveals, there’s a whole lotta The Elsewheres magic still to come in 2023: “Run Away With Me is our first release in three years but it’s not going to be our last this year. We’ve been working like dogs to get some new material ready for your ears so keep ya mincers peeled, there’s something bigger coming!”.

Run Away With Me is out today, Friday June 9.

THUR 10 AUG
THE CURTIN HOTEL,
MELBOURNE VIC | 18+

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Follow THE ELSEWHERES
Spotify – Instagram – Facebook – YouTube

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AMNPLIFY – DB