Notoriously eccentric New Zealand gothic folk artist Aldous Harding is the second act to be added to the contemporary music program of Perth Festival 2020 (following Yeasayer last week) with a performance set for Friday, February 28.
Harding’s must-see live experience has set critics and audiences alight, taking the cult star to phenomenal heights with her bewitching, bewildering set. Her performance was one of the highlights of Laneway Festival last year, where our review said she “silenced the crowd with her brand of dreamy folk and stunning voice… full of emotion, posturing and jilting from position to position as if each line she delivered increased a weight upon her.”
The New Zealander’s third album, Designer, was released earlier this year, scoring an impressive 8.5/10 in our review that claimed it may prove to be the best indie folk album of the year. “Designer is a resounding triumph. Harding has embraced a pop sensibility while also creating her most diverse set of tunes yet,” was just some of what we said. This month the album won the APRA NZ Silver Scroll for whimsical single, The Barrel. Harding followed it up last week with a weird and wonderful music video for latest single, Zoo Eyes.
Perth Festival contemporary music programmer Clara Iaccarino says Harding is a fitting inclusion to the Festival’s diverse and exciting line-up of contemporary music. “I first saw (her) in a small club in Melbourne where she hushed the audience from her very first breath. Almost otherworldly, she is as mesmerising as she is intense, drawing the audience into her majestic orb. This year’s contemporary music program is peppered with strong female voices and we’re thrilled to announce that Aldous Harding will be one of the many highlights.”
Designer is out now. Aldous Harding plays Perth Festival on Friday, February 28, 2020. Tickets are on sale Wednesday, October 23 from the Perth Festival website.
