Perth-born, Melbourne-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Alex Elbery takes an exuberant leap via his brand new single Ripcord. Releasing with an accompanying whimsical music video, Ripcord is a warm and dynamic ode to falling in love, coated with billowing pop hues, driving alt rock undertones and an endearing Aussie tinge alongside heartfelt lyricism.
Here’s Alex’s top five artists:
Bruce Springsteen.
Bruce is my guy. For 50 years he’s remained authentic and always honored his fanbase. Not to mention he’s written so many incredible tunes and made so many amazing albums. Born To Run was the big breakthrough but my personal favorite is the follow up, Darkness On The Edge of Town. There’s a darkness (see what I did there?) and a sadness on that record that’s just always really resonated with me. Tracks like Something in The Night are really indicative of that. There’s still some really bright moments like Badlands and The Promised Land. It’s had to pick because honestly, I could write a page on every album and why it’s good, so instead, I’m just going to rattle off some of my favorite albums and my favorite songs off each. The River, fave songs are The River and Drive All Night. Nebraska, fave songs being Atlantic City and Reason To Believe and Wrecking Ball, fave songs being Death To My Hometown, Rocky Ground, Land of Hope and Dreams and Wrecking Ball.
Bright Eyes.
Bright Eyes got me through my teenage years, for sure. The DIY approach and the pride in being imperfect was something that really spoke to me. Digital Ash in A Digital Urn is maybe my favorite album. Easy/Lucky/Free, Arc of Time and Gold Mine Gutted are such wonderful songs. Lifted is also one of my favorites, I always loved having a 12 minute closing song on that album; Let’s Not Shit Ourselved (to love and to be loved)
Cyndi Lauper.
Cyndi Lauper is incredible and honestly, so underrated in this day and age. I think people forget that she walked so Chappell Roan could run. My favorite album of hers is her debut album She’s So Unusual. It has all the classic like Time After Time and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (which is a cover, she rewrote the lyrics too btw) but also has some amazing, lesser known tunes like Money Changes Everything, Witness and her cover of the Prince song When U Were Mine
Prince.
I was lucky enough to see Prince play in Melbourne about a month before he passed away. It was just him an a piano and it was one of the greatest shows I ever saw. I’m not going to suggest any particular song or album because there’s just SOSO much of his music out there. I guess if you were starting from zero, the Purple Rain album is a good place to start.
Maggie Rogers.
Maggie Rogers is what we in the biz call a ‘generational talent.’ There’s nobody like her. I love how she took a kind of classic, folk song writing tradition and totally modernised it. Surrender is my favorite album. Key songs being Want Want, Horses and Shatter.
