FORSTER-raised indie-pop artist Holly Rankin, aka Jack River, will release her long-awaited second album, Endless Summer, on June 16.
Last week fans were treated to another taste from the record in the sugary psych-pop title track, which is a collaboration with Canberra hip-hop star Genesis Owusu and was co-written with the DMA'S guitarist Matt Mason.
Endless Summer was written before Rankin fell pregnant with her first child, Maggie, who was born in December. However, she says becoming a mother has greatly changed the album's meaning.
"There is a part of the future beside me now, and she will experience the consequences of all the decisions we are making today," Rankin said. "The experience of being pregnant and giving birth has made everything beautifully and awfully real. I think that sentiment plays out in this record."
Endless Summer will be Jack River's first full-length album since the release of her acclaimed debut, Sugar Mountain, in 2018. In 2020 she produced the EP, Stranger Heart.
HEAD TURNER
THE Hamilton Station Hotel keeps rolling out major gigs following the news that punk legends Frenzal Rhomb will open the venue's expanded band room on March 17.
English folk-punk artist Frank Turner is confirmed to play the Hamo solo on April 10 while he's in Australia for Byron Bay's Bluesfest.
The 41-year-old last toured Australia in 2018 when he and his band The Sleeping Souls played the Cambridge Hotel. Since then he's released the albums No Man's Land (2019) and FTHC (2022), the latter reaching No.1 on the UK charts.
The Hamo will also welcome Melbourne pop-punk band Slowly Slowly back to town on April 6.
FRESH WINGS
A ROAD trip to the upper Hunter could be on the cards this winter after the Let's Wing It Festival was announced for Scone's White Park.
The three-day festival runs from June 9 to 11 and is headlined by Golden Guitar-winner Fanny Lumsden.
The stacked bill also includes Brooke McClymont & Adam Eckersley, Bill Chambers, Andrew Swift, The Bushwackers, Gretta Ziller, Melody Moko and the Sunny Cowgirls.
There's also stacks of Hunter artists flying the flag, including Catherine Britt, Piper Butcher and Good Corn Liquor.
