Hatchie – Liquorice
Australian dream-pop musician Hatchie announces her third LP Liquorice, produced by Jay Som due out November 7 on Secretly Canadian.
Pilbeam wanted to complete Liquorice with a single collaborator, ideally a non-male producer who also fronts their own musical project. In September 2024, Pilbeam and Agius returned to Los Angeles to work with Melina Duterte, who records indie rock under the name Jay Som and has production credits on an assortment of projects including the GRAMMY-winning boygenius album the record.
“This album feels like the culmination of everything I’ve wanted to do with this project since I first started it,” Harriette Pilbeam explains. “I focused on the finer details of the trajectory of love found and lost, inspired by my favorite tragic romance films. I’ve never felt more aligned with an album and can’t wait to share the experience with everyone.”
The cover of Liquorice, the third album from Australian indie pop artist Hatchie, features a closely cropped portrait of Harriette Pilbeam laughing, her smudged red lipstick suggesting the glorious aftermath of a kiss. Captured during a spontaneous backyard photo shoot using a dinky digital camera, the image encapsulates a record that is rough around the edges and joyfully undone with themes of longing, lust, and regret.
Pilbeam began writing Liquorice in earnest while living in Brisbane over 2022-2023, and later at a home shared with Agius in Melbourne, ultimately completing the demos in mid-2024. As a musician who has previously worn her influences on her sleeve, Pilbeam strove to write from scratch without any specific musical influences in mind; allowing songs to breathe for weeks, rather than rushing ideas. She found herself drawn to the melodic simplicity of her early songs and embraced her musical insecurities: “I wanted to see my limitations as strengths that inform my style.”
The wistful lead single “Lose It Again” is out today.
It was co-written with Orchin’s Jeremy McLennan. Liquorice was recorded with Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Courtney Barnett) on drums, mixed by Alex Farrar (Wednesday, MJ Lenderman), and mastered by Greg Obis (Wishy, Slow Pulp). “Lose It Again” comes with an equally moving music video directed by Hatchie’s bandmate and partner Joe Agius.
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