Track: Second Idol’s ‘Postcolonial Blues’ is a Dark, Hypnotic Reckoning with Identity

Eora/Sydney’s Second Idol have never been ones to play it safe, and their latest single, ‘Postcolonial Blues’, is possibly their most haunting and powerful statement yet. Produced by Clayton Segelov (Shady Nasty, Sleepmakeswaves, Dear Seattle) at The Brain Studios, the track is a brooding, post-punk-infused odyssey through identity, displacement, and the uneasy weight of history.

Characterised by discordant chords and urgent drum patterns, ‘Postcolonial Blues’ grips like a fever dream, as Kate Farquharson’s evocative vocals drift through a haze of gritty guitars. It’s a song that breathes, shifts, and sways—a sonic tension between past and present, between roots and uprootedness.

“The lyrics in ‘Postcolonial Blues’ are a contemplation of my upbringing in the country town of Kempsey, NSW on Dunghutti land. It stems from the navigation of my personal experiences growing up in a cross-cultural household. It contemplates the racism I experienced and observed in my hometown’s past and present, and the inequalities, tensions and fractures that continue to exist. This song is me trying to make sense of my place in the world and how I reconcile calling Australia home. My family tree and my existence are born from colonialism, and as a postcolonial being, I question how I navigate this world and where I feel that I belong. This song is an Australian song, and it is about my Australian experience.” – Kate Farquharson

The accompanying Throat Pasta-directed video (shot in the eerie stillness of Manly Dam) visually embodies the emotional turbulence of immigration—the search for belonging, the echoes of home in unfamiliar places. But this isn’t just a song about personal histories; it’s about the stories that live in the bones of the band itself. With Kate’s Sri Lankan/Scottish background, drummer Afeef Iqbal’s Pakistani heritage, and guitarist Sunny Josan’s Palestinian/Indian roots, Second Idol amplify a collective experience rarely given the mic in alt-rock.