ABBI Yeo laughs nervously when she reveals she'll again be hosting her own mini music festival on February 9 to mark her 21st birthday.
Abstock could be viewed as a vanity project by some, but anyone that knows the Newcastle indie-folk singer-songwriter would realise it's merely a celebration of music and community.
For the past two years Yeo has hosted Abstock in her native West Wallsend - firstly at her parents house and then in her next door neighbours' front yard as it morphed into a musical street party.
"I like to think it shows more flair than being dramatic," Yeo says.
Due to Yeo's growing reputation in the Newcastle music scene, Abstock is stepping up in 2024 with the party to be held at the King Street Hotel.
The Abstock line-up will also include sets from Newcastle band The Axolotls and Central Coast's Lemon Joe.
While Yeo has an eye to the future with her looming 21st birthday and Abstock, her most recent single, Object, has its origins in the past.
Object was originally written when Yeo was 15 and began as "an angsty teenage high-school song", she'd since outgrown.
"I've very much grown up from that period of my life," she says. "I didn't find any validity in the song anymore.
"I was always playing it at my gigs, as it's the most upbeat song I've written, and people started to like it."
Due to the response the song was getting at shows, Yeo decided to re-write the lyrics in the bridge while in the studio with her producer Matt McLaren.
"We were making stuff up and even asked ChatGPT and it was horrible what it suggested," she says.
"We came up with something that is the bridge now, and I find it funny, but it's more in tune with the rest of the song."
Yeo announced herself as one of Newcastle's best young songwriters in 2021 with the release of her EP Perfect Silence, that included the inaugural Newcastle Music Show's Steel City 50-winning track, Wildfire.
She's also released the powerful singles Deserter (2022) and She (2023).
In late 2024 or early 2025 Yeo hopes to release her debut album.
