Melbourne singer-songwriter Gareth Leach has joined with South Australian artist Michaela Jenke for the new single ‘My Crime’, which debuted at #3 on the iTunes Country chart. It’s a song about promise and futility, the self and the shadow self.
‘Recognising and knowing your demons when they present themselves is one thing,’ says Leach, ‘but learning to fight them, or at the least challenge yourself to overcome them, is another thing … and it can be scary as hell facing those thoughts, especially in today’s current social climate fraught with insecurity and uncertainty due to the threat of pandemics.’
Leach wrote the song then realised that it would work best as a duet, to bring about a tonal balance – light offsetting dark. After seeing Jenke perform earlier this year, he knew she was the right choice. Jenke’s ‘amazing performance and presence turns the song into a conversation,’ says Leach, ‘rather than a completely introspective dialogue from the perspective of the character, bringing the song to life … hence the constant to-ing and fro-ing between the two of us throughout the song.’
This year Leach has already released the singles ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’ and ‘Old Crow Feather’, from a forthcoming album (his second). Jenke is a graduate of the CMAA Senior Academy of Country Music and winner of the 2018 Tamworth CMF Coca-Cola Battle of The New Stars competition. Her EP, Diamonds Outta Dirt, was released in 2017.
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