We are honoured to premiere the video for the new single ‘This Is A Drill’ from one of our favourite artists, the immensely talented Naarm/Melbourne artist Anna Smyrk, the first single off her forthcoming debut album ‘Spectacular Denial’ via Community Music. She has also announced album launch shows in Eora/Sydney, Meanjin/Brisbane and Naarm/Melbourne in the first half of 2026.
The video is a live performance that captures Smyrk’s enigmatic delivery for a beautiful moving track written in the wake of her father’s passing. Smyrk’s silken vocals as she delivers the line I’m still waiting for the phone to ring captures the anxiety and grief of loss, the very notes imbued with the grief and uncertainty that comes from a life changing sadness. Smyrk says of the track is:
A song about not being ready to feel my feelings. It’s about the strange, foggy state of denial, where everything feels a little unreal, like normal life is happening on the other side of a heavy curtain, like each day is a drill for the real thing.
Indeed the sense of loss is resonant, capturing the intensity of feelings we have all experienced. Smyrk says:
People have come to talk after the shows about their own losses. It’s like we can share a little moment of solidarity. Funnily enough, for a song about denial, people seem to feel a sense of release through it, which I really love.
Smyrk captures so elegantly and heartbreakingly a sense of loss and disbelief:
This is a fight
A battle between me and my brain
This is a fight
I’m keeping everything just the same
Don’t feel quite right
But it’s better than opening up to the pain
This isn’t happening
And I don’t think I’m doing so well
No I don’t think I’m doing so well
I’m still waiting for the phone to ring and you’re calling me angel
The live performance captured in the video has an elegiac start with the mournful guitar played with a bow, before the crisp acoustic guitar rings out. Smyrk’s vocals are like a silken veil floating across the firmament and she has an enigmatic presence as delivers the most moving lyrics about the discombobulation caused by grief. Smyrk says of the video:
The video was recorded at an album preview show that we put on exactly one year after we were in the studio recording the album. It was a chance to air out these songs and see how they feel live with the band. It was a really special night, a few tears were definitely shed. It made me really excited to get on the road for the album release shows next year.
Directed by Heaps Stoked Productions, the visuals are close and personal, intimate and heart-rending:
This is truly a magnificent track, produced and mixed by Anna Laverty (Courtney Barnett, Nick Cave), and the video enhances the melancholy and intensity.
‘This Is A Drill’ is out now and can be streamed and downloaded through the link below:
It is hard to believe the new album ‘Spectacular Denial’ is a debut: Smyrk has built a strong international presence over the years with her unique haunting vocals and expressive songwriting: muscular pop with a self-deprecating sense of humour, heartfelt and personal.
Smyrk will be launching the album nest year – detail below. Early bird tickets on sale now until Wednesday 24 December here.
Friday 10 April
Red Rattler Marrickville, Eora/Sydney
Doors: 7:30 pm
Tickets
Saturday 11 April
Mirrorball Ministries, West End, Meanjin/Brisbane
Doors: 2:30 pm
Tickets
Saturday 2 May
Northcote Social Club, Northcote, Naarm/Melbourne
Doors: 8:30 pm
Tickets
Feature Photograph: Michelle Grace Hunder
