We are pleased to premiere the new single ‘The Rhino, The Tiger, The Emerald Dragonfly’ by Melbourne’s Skybelly, the nom de plume of artist Sara Nelson. This is a slinky, smooth and textural piece of music is off Skybelly’s forthcoming EP ‘The Drama of a Lava Lamp’ due out on 4 June 2021.
Skybelly has perfected a dreamy, ethereal atmosphere in this single: a languorous, prowling sound over sweeping strings and Nelson’s vocals a smooth enticing salve taming the electro pop sound. Her vocals entreat, whisper and roar with power. It’s a transfixing and immersive veil that floats and shimmers with an intensity and an important message – this is a planet that we all inhabit. Skybelly says of the track:
This song came from a place of existential dread … I wanted to channel that sense of impending doom into something upbeat and victorious – it started as a dark piano ballad and then I transposed it into Ableton, making these playful synth patches and adding samples of croaking frogs that I’d recorded on my walkabouts during lockdown. We’re living in a capitalist world – but I don’t think all the capital in the world can replace the beauty and serenity that is a sitting under a tree on a sunny day, or shadows playing in a coral reef, or a polar bear hunting on sea ice. Mother nature is sublime and music is how I worship her.
This worship of nature almost takes the form of a beautiful and passionate elegy:
‘The Rhino, The Tiger, The Emerald Dragonfly’ is released on Friday, 28 May 2021 and available everywhere you stream or download music. The EP can be pre-saved here.
