Queensland sister country duo Innocent Eve are back showcasing their highly anticipated raw and honest storytelling.
Innocent Eve is back with their emotion-provoking sophomore album. The entirely self-penned album showcases the country duos perspectives on love, life, people and the world. Bec and Rachel Olsson, the sisters behind Innocent Eve both contribute to the album in equal parts, collaborating in every aspect of the writing and recording process.
With their latest release, the sisters have used their own experiences of heartbreak, hurt, love and loneliness to bring audiences raw and honest storytelling accompanied with beautiful country inspired melodies carefully produced by Aria award-winner Matt Fell.
The album provides a number of carefully crafted and curated country tracks that are sure to move listeners and leave them coming back for more. Whether it is the track ‘Comfort of Your Arms’ which feels like a warm hug, or ‘Running for My Life’ which invokes feelings of escapism and driving in the car with the music up loud and the windows down, Innocent Eve has ensured there is something for every listener with Viking.
The highly anticipated new album from the Americana/alt-country duo comes off the back of their last EP “True North”, released in 2016. After a whirlwind 2020, the release of the album is especially momentous after an incredibly tumultuous time for the sisters: “We are so happy to be sharing it” expressed the pair.
The album has not come without challenges for the pair, facing Bec’s ongoing battle with cancer and the effect of COVID on many creatives, the album’s release date has had to be pushed back multiple times. “We actually went into the studio in November of 2018 to record this album and it’s been ready to go since late 2019,” says the pair.
The duo was also faced with the challenge of geography, living some 600 kms apart for most of the writing process for Viking. It’s clear the highly anticipated album comes off the back of a few challenging years for the pair, which is evident in the raw emotion and honestly weaved through the songwriting on the album.
Showcasing everything from heartbreak and hurt to everlasting love, politics and personal demons, the album explores some of the pairs most honest and heartfelt works to date and shines a light on the way Innocent Eve beautifully and delicately weaves emotion and passion through their music. The album also allowed the sisters to hone in on their songwriting skills, explaining that they write as individuals and then bring what they’ve created to the table to collaborate together.
“In the past, there were big changes and adaptations to those songs, but we found with this album, as we’ve grown as songwriters, there is much less modification needed. I guess we’re just getting better at our craft or growing in confidence as songwriters,” the pair expressed.
The duo put a lot of love into their craft, expressing that since they are independent artists, they only have themselves and their fans to answer to, giving them more freedom in their songwriting process.
“We write because we feel intrinsically compelled to write, not because we have any external pressure to. We also absolutely love the process of bringing new songs to life.”
The album explores a slightly different sound for the pair, with them coining Chris Stapleton as one of their big inspirations for the overall sound of the album.
“At the time we were listening to a lot of Chris Stapleton and Foy Vance, so they may have rubbed off in the overall sound,” they explain, nodding to their new sound with more folk, rock and even Celtic influences evident throughout the album.
The duo has a long list of accolades to their names, after their soulful previous single ‘Mixed Bag’ debuted at number three on the AMPRAP Regional Airplay Charts it is no surprise that their single ‘Viking’ is following suit. ‘Viking’, the title track from the album, spent 16 weeks in the 2TM top 20, including a week at the number one spot.
The album is already off to a stellar start and is sure to rack up more accolades for the sister duo – we can guarantee it.
Viking is out now, check it out below and be sure to follow Innocent Eve on Instagram here to stay in the loop with upcoming gigs.
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