Asha Jefferies – What The Hell
Australian songwriter Asha Jefferies will release her new album, Desire Is An Angel, in just over a month, on 2 October via Nettwerk.
Having already introduced the record with the singles ‘Backwards Baby’,’Art of Suggestion’ and ‘Cool Guy’, she unveils its final preview, ‘What the Hell’ and announces a tour down the East Coast.
Speaking about the new single, Asha says, “This was the first song I wrote for the record. It literally took me years to finish though and the chorus sat on its own for a very long time. I wanted it to feel celebratory, not self-centred. And walk the line of expressing forgiveness and resentment. It’s a song about wanting someone’s words to reflect their actions and vice versa.”
The new single arrives as Asha continues to build momentum ahead of the album’s release. She was recently named Spotify’s EQUAL AUNZ Spotlight Artist for August, joining Spotify’s global EQUAL initiative, which celebrates and amplifies the voices of women making waves in music around the world, with editorial support across the platform and a New York Times Square billboard.
After releasing her debut album, Ego Ride, in 2024, Jefferies toured the UK, Europe and the US, and supported Courtney Barnett, Soccer Mommy and Hana Vu. She returned to the UK to record Desire Is An Angel with producer Tom Iansek (Big Scary, #1 Dads). Co-produced by Jefferies and Iansek, the album is a showcase for Jefferies’ sophisticated indie rock and folk-pop songcraft. It’s both more sonically ambitious and more intimately personal than its predecessor.
Jefferies wanted to make music that would soften her. As she started writing songs for her second album, Jefferies began listening closely to her desire. We tend to think of desire as stemming from lack. But on her new album, Desire Is An Angel, Jefferies depicts desire as an essential force in the development of our self-knowledge.
“It’s less about getting what you want, and more about understanding what you want and why you want it,” Jefferies says. Making the album was a transformative process, she adds, “It has taught me how to feel more confident and comfortable within what I desire. I think before, I was quite timid and hesitant to want things.”
Jefferies explores her former tendency to silence desire on the album’s first single, the symphonically-adorned ‘Backwards Baby’. A similar effort to stamp out desire shows up in ‘Cool Guy’, a crescendoing alt-country song that starts out sounding like a scratchy home demo and ends sounding like the sort of power ballad that could bring lighters into the air in a packed arena.
On the meditative title track, Jefferies draws attention to desire’s spiritual dimension. “Desire is an angel, I can’t turn it off,” she sings. On ‘Art of Suggestion’, one of the record’s most classic-sounding pop songs, Jefferies plays with the imaginative potential of desire.
On ‘Lilo & Switch’, a song that recalls the punchy and emotive indie rock of Soccer Mommy and Lucy Dacus, Jefferies illustrates how desire goes to the core of our being. “I wanna listen,” she sings. “Wanna reach some wisdom.”
At the centre of Desire Is An Angel is Jefferies’ voice, which never sounds formal or abstract, even when she flaunts her vast vocal range. Every line is delivered with emotive intent, with Jefferies occasionally attenuating vocal phrases or shifting into a conversational tone to better evoke the complex feelings being explored.
The album is by turns raw, sympathetic, elated and erotic. But the ultimate effect of listening to Desire Is An Angel is a softening. “It’s a way of processing my life as well, to digest what I really want and look at what that might mean,” Jefferies says. “I’ve learnt that I can give that to myself.”
Sat 7 Nov – Black Bear Lodge, Meanjin/Brisbane
Sat 14 Nov – The Bridge, Djaara/Castlemaine
Thur 19 Nov – The Evelyn Hotel, Naarm/Melbourne
Thur 26 Nov – OAF Gallery, Eora/Sydney
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