Not even two years since the release of her enchanting debut single ‘First Light’, indie-pop sensation Yorke has revealed her emotionally charged debut EP Liberosis, captivating us once again.
Grace Hughes, the 21-year old singer behind the moniker Yorke (a homage to her love of New York City), is proud as punch of the EP, an elegant and heartfelt explorative journey which is just the salve for being stuck indoors.
“It feels a bit weird, releasing music with all this going on, but I also feel like it’s important and hopefully it can help people take their mind off of things that are going on, even just for a little while,” she reveals. “I think it sums up a big part of my life and hopefully people will connect with it.”
Featuring previously released singles ‘First Light’, ‘Wake The City’ and ‘Treading Water’, the anthemic seven-track EP is a coming of age story at its heart, exploring the messiness of moving from adolescence into adulthood, through to the liberation found in discovering who you are and what you want.
From start to finish, this capsule of raw thought and emotion brings together bold and cinematic production from the likes of Xavier Dunn (Jack River) and Andy Hopkins (Coterie, Emalia), rousing pop hooks and uplifting melodies, immersive instrumentation, and the alluring vocals of Yorke herself, catapulting her into the league of pop ingenues such as Lorde, Clairo and Ruel.
Breaking open this new chapter with confidence, it was Yorke’s most recent single ‘Treading Water’ – an empowering and heartfelt ode to perseverance – that proved her notable worth as a mature and vulnerable lyricist. Written to inspire others to be resilient and stick with their passions, especially during moments of hopelessness and hardship, the lyric ‘I’m treading water but I’m still alive’ is laced with emotion, resonating with people now more than ever.
“‘Treading Water’ stems from a conversation that I was having about a family friend who had made comments about me growing out of this music phase and go back to uni. It just made me think about a lot of things and I was like, you know, it’s not easy. When I took on music full time, I knew that financially and emotionally it would be a struggle, and it’s not easy and you have to work really hard,” she explains.
“But if you do that and you’re showing yourself that you’ve done as much as you can, then you can’t really fail. It was just so weird for me that someone would say that and I was like, ‘no, I’m tenacious, I can get through this’. I just hope the song is empowering to other people too.”
Upon listening to the EP in its entirety, you can hear the heart and soul that went into its creation: each song with a personal touch behind it that is brought to life through an array of noteworthy collaborations. Alongside teaming up with LANKS for the vulnerable closing track ‘Don’t Let The Lights Go Out’, Liberosis features the work of aforementioned producers Dunn and Hopkins, mixer Mark Rankin (Adele, Florence and The Machine), mixer Chris Collins (Skeggs, Middle Kids), and co-writer Sam Burtt (Sam Phay), collectively packing a distinctive punch sonically.
“I love collaborating,” Yorke expresses. “I think I learned a lot from it because everyone’s methods are different. I really enjoy being able to work with people and get things out of it that I can then take back and work on in my own craft. I was writing by myself and with my piano from such a young age that I sort of got a bit sick of that so I just love working with other people and discovering what can come out of it.
“Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t, but you always learn something from it.”
One of the many tracks that highlighted Yorke’s ability to bring out the best in herself through collaboration is the gripping ballad ‘Thought I Could’, which takes its place as her favourite track that she’s ever written and dives deep into the dreamy indie-pop soundscape she’s quickly becoming known for.
“’Thought I Could’ will always be one that I really loved creating. Hauskey [Andy Hopkins] and I wrote it at night and it was my first ever night session and first-ever session with him but we just clicked,” she reveals. “We were writing it at like 12:01am which was when ‘First Light’ came out, the first Yorke single, so emotions were running extremely high and we were watching it come out in all the different territories on the streaming platforms which just added to the vulnerability of the track. It was just amazing.”
With her EP garnering a number of positive reviews, having already scored past support slots for British pop balladeer Lewis Capaldi and teen pop legend Ruel, as well as selling out her own 2019 ‘Thought I Could’ tour, and being featured as a guest vocalist for beloved EDM producers Paces (‘Vertigo’) and Kilter (‘Overdrive’), Liberosis is just a single chapter for Yorke, whose presence within the scene will continue to bolster from here on out.
Liberosis is now out through Island Records Australia and we definitely recommend putting it on repeat. Check it out below.
