Melbourne artist Joyce Prescher moved to Australia over a decade ago from her homeland of The Netherlands, although she is, she says, ‘very Dutch’. Her latest single, ‘My Heroics’, comes not from The Netherlands, however, but its neighbour, Belgium as the song was originally written and recorded by Belgian indie rockers Absythne Minded. ‘My Heroics’ is having its premiere on Sunburnt Country Music today.
Listen to ‘My Heroics’
https://joyceprescher.bandcamp.com/track/my-heroics
This is the first cover Prescher has ever released and she is joined in the enterprise by one Lachlan Bryan, well known to Australian country music fans for being one half of The Pleasures (the other half is Catherine Britt) and the leader of Lachlan Bryan & the Wildes.
The project had its germination during Melbourne’s lockdowns, as Bryan explains: ‘Joyce and I became great friends in “the quiet times” around 2021 and 2022. We would walk around the empty streets of St Kilda and talk about music and life. I was particularly enchanted by the images of the underground music scenes of the Netherlands and Belgium. I’d never heard these bands or songs before, and eventually we had the idea to record some of them.’
‘These songs and bands will always be so near to my heart,’ Prescher adds. ‘I listened to them a lot during my ‘formative” years and have such profound memories of the live venues and festivals I would go to in my late teens and early twenties with my close friends back home. I have a soft spot for our Flemish neighbours in particular, so many great bands were releasing music and touring during that time. It’s been real fun recording these songs, I hope we’ve done them justice, but I think we have.’
The original version of ‘My Heroics’ was not a duet, but after listening to Prescher and Bryan’s version it’s hard to imagine it any other way, their voices playing off and also away from each other, Bryan in the growliest part of his register and Prescher floating above. The recording dates from those ‘quiet times’ and now emerges into freer days, and there’s a sense of freedom in it even as its groove anchors us within it.
‘My Heroics’ is having its premiere here today.
It will be released by Cheersquad Records tomorrow.
