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Award-winning Aussie Americana artist HELEN TOWNSEND asks ‘Is This Love’ with new single!

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Australian Americana artist Helen Townsend is that rare artist who can make large venues feel like lounge rooms. Get comfy and lean into her richly lyrical songs, get up and dance, sing along because she’s singing about you, fall in love with the stagecraft — whatever your desire, it’s all good because it’s just you and Helen. When the lights go up no one will ever know.

Townsend’s new single, ‘Is This Love’, asks the age-old question, the one we’ve all wanted answered sometime or another. Dressed up in irresistible honky tonk blues, ‘Is This Love’ is an instant dance-floor filler and the first leg of a musical oeuvre that has Townsend at the peak of her powers and will have audiences beaming and calling out for more.

Helen Townsend may have been late in picking up the tools of her trade but in a short time she has shown herself to be a master craftsman in a field too often crowded with cowboy-booted jacks and jills of all trades. Her sweet voice and tender picking rubs against songs that are filled with characters living with the costly results of impulsive choices and memories that just won’t let go. Her music takes you on a journey through beautiful valleys, coastal plains and soaring over mountains with a few deep, dark tunnels to keep you grounded.

She has carved out a reputation for edgy Americana music – one that has pushed the genre’s boundaries from roots-rock through blues and country to folk – with her upcoming album, Helen has broadened her style and flair even more so with catchy new melodies, tight harmonies and personal stories and lyrics that hook into your heart and tear up your soul. The new album builds from her previous 2 EP’s and her debut album, which scored her multiple awards and nominations including winner of WA Country Music Award for Best Emerging Artist and Song of the year.

Townsend has continued to extend her musical influence with her recent US shows and was part of the Sounds Australia Showcase at the coveted Americanafest in Nashville.  All this on top of the US launch of her EP “Love, Lies ‘n’ Leaving” which found its way into the FAI top 10 Folk albums chart in the US for September 2022 has increased Helens popularity in Australia and abroad.

With ‘Is This Love’, Townsend is making her first exploration into UK territory, with plans for a UK tour and new album release to come next year. The video for the single is pure Americana nostalgia with Townsend and band arriving via a classic car to tear things up at a swinging rock ‘n’ roll bar. Through out it, we see Townsend question ‘Is This Love’ with her partner and fellow Australian musician Shannon Smith, as they share a dance, cocktails and eventually make plans to meet again. Much of Townsend’s forthcoming new album has been inspired by her new relationship with Shannon Smith, who has also channelled their love for each other in his own upcoming music project, both albums being written respectively from their different sides of the relationship, as these two musicians forged their bond.

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Suki Summer’s ‘LOVESICK AND SICK OF LOVE’ is a Cinematic Coming-of-Age Masterpiece

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Indie-pop newcomer Suki Summer may be a fresh face, but her new EP, LOVESICK AND SICK OF LOVE, proves she’s got a veteran’s soul. Across six emotionally layered tracks, Suki unveils her most intimate and refined work yet—a sonic diary chronicling the highs and heartbreaks of modern love. With dreamy production and searing lyrics, this EP doesn’t just whisper its pain; it commands attention.

From the sugar-rush romance of “Summer Crush” to the tear-stained farewell in “outro (it’s nvr bye it’s jus c ya l8r),” Suki crafts a narrative that feels both personal and cinematic. Every track is a chapter in the emotional evolution of a young woman learning to love, lose, and find herself again. Her vocals shimmer with a quiet confidence, often drenched in nostalgia yet pulsing with clarity.

The title track, “LOVESICK AND SICK OF LOVE,” marks a pivotal moment in the EP—a bold declaration of emotional exhaustion with dating culture. “It’s about the burnout of constantly opening yourself up just to be misunderstood or ghosted,” Suki explains. The raw honesty hits hard, resonating with anyone who’s swiped, waited, and walked away empty.

What elevates Suki’s debut is her ability to balance soft melancholy with sharp insight. Fans of Clairo, Gracie Abrams, and Mazzy Star will feel right at home, yet Suki’s poetic edge and immersive production carve a new lane entirely. Each song feels like a vignette from a beautifully tragic indie film.

With LOVESICK AND SICK OF LOVE, Suki Summer doesn’t just join the indie-pop conversation—she shifts it. Vulnerable, nuanced, and breathtakingly real, this EP signals the arrival of a bold new voice ready to reshape the genre from the inside out.

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