San Francisco pop auteur underscores is heading back to Australia this December, bringing the restless world of her third album U to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne for three headline theatre shows.
The artist born April Harper Grey will also make an appearance at Meredith Music Festival while in Victoria, extending an Australian visit that arrives during a particularly busy chapter in her career. Joining her across all three headline dates will be New York-based Estonian-American producer and DJ umru.
underscores has spent much of her career refusing to stay in one musical lane. Her beginnings can be traced to SoundCloud uploads made from her childhood bedroom, followed by the 2017 EP skin purifying treatment, but the years since have seen that DIY experimentation expand into an increasingly unpredictable collision of hyperpop, alt-pop, electronic music and more abrasive ideas.
That approach reaches another stage on U, released in March via Mom+Pop. The album has amassed more than 80 million global streams and earned a triple j Feature Album spot, following the conceptual sprawl of Wallsocket and the frenetic bedroom-pop experimentation of 2021’s fishmonger.
U finds underscores pulling nostalgia, desire and alienation into songs that can change shape without much warning. It is pop music fascinated with what happens when its familiar structures are stretched, distorted or simply abandoned.
The record also arrives as underscores’ reach continues to widen. She has appeared at Coachella, Lollapalooza and Corona Capital, played alongside 100 gecs and Porter Robinson, and is due to join Charli XCX on an upcoming US run. ‘Harvest Sky’ brought her together with French producer Oklou, while her collaborative orbit has also included Yaeji and Danny Brown.
Her DJ work offers another window into just how broad those reference points are. A June 2026 set recorded for goyo club moves through SOPHIE, Ninajirachi, Jane Remover and Oklou alongside Janet Jackson, Kylie Minogue, Skrillex, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus. It is a useful snapshot of an artist for whom the boundaries between underground electronics and mainstream pop are increasingly beside the point.
That makes umru a particularly apt choice of support. His work stretches back through collaborations with Charli XCX, A. G. Cook and PC Music, with Laura Les, Tommy Cash and Empress Of also among his credits. His densely layered production and maximalist approach occupy similarly porous territory between experimental electronic music and pop.
For underscores, these December shows offer Australian audiences another look at an artist whose bedroom-made beginnings have steadily expanded onto much larger stages without sanding away the eccentricities that got her there in the first place.
The Frontier Members presale begins Wednesday 26 August at 10am local time, with general tickets on sale Friday 28 August at 12pm local time.
Go HERE for tickets.
