Melbourne indie artist Maxine Gillon returns with ‘The Last Time’, a song that feels like sunlight breaking through storm clouds. Opening with Gillon’s unmistakable jangling guitar tone, it’s pure, melodic pop at its core — the kind that glows with warmth even when it’s born from sadness. The chorus rings out like a bell, clear and immediate, while her lyrics — thoughtful, intimate, and quietly resolute — bring emotional gravity to an irresistibly catchy frame.
Gillon has always worn her introspection on her sleeve, but here she transforms it into something almost luminous. ‘The Last Time’ stands as a bright counterpoint to the mental health challenges she has faced, its optimism not naïve but hard-won. Beneath its sparkling surface lies an artist reckoning with impermanence, loss, and gratitude — themes that feel both deeply personal and universally resonant.
In her own words, Gillon describes the track as an effort to “accept the ebbs and flows of life and be grateful to be alive while it lasts.” That balance — between fragility and resilience — defines ‘The Last Time’. You can hear it in the way the bells and percussion bloom against her crystalline guitars, a sound that evokes the lush shimmer of a 60s girl-group record but with a distinctly modern indie pulse.
It’s no small feat to make something so hopeful out of heartbreak, but that’s Gillon’s quiet magic. ‘The Last Time’ doesn’t deny pain — it reframes it, turning despair into melody, grief into motion. The result is a song that lingers not because it’s sad, but because it sounds like healing.
Don’t miss Maxine at her upcoming show on October 18th, The Old Bar, Collingwood (supporting Simona Castricum) (tickets)
