Melody Moko is changing the face of country music as we know it with the release of her stunning new album “Suburban Dream”. Melding contemporary and edgy lyrical content with finely finessed Americana production, “Suburban Dream” is like no other release, and further cements the Golden Guitar Award winning artist, as an unrivalled innovator of the craft.
As a whole, “Suburban Dream”, is an exploration of life as a wife in suburbia with Melody putting her life under a microscope, magnifying the struggles and joys she’s experienced over the past two years. If there’s one thing we all know and love about Melody Moko it’s her no-holds-barred honesty and guts to frame it exactly how it is.
With the ability to reach more people after the success of her previous record, Melody set out to show what she stands for, make a stand for the issues that she faces as a mother, a member of the queer community, an activist, and a woman. The album is almost protest art, bold and emblazoned with hard-hitting, and sometimes hard to hear messages.
“Suburban Dream was born from darkness and depression, the record is a diary entry into what it looks like to hit rock bottom and documents both the downfall and the recovery, it’s equal parts hopeful and hopeless”, says Melody Moko.
Following on from her wildly successful release, “Two Kids and A Radio”, which saw Melody bring home a QMA Award, a Golden Guitar Award and a nomination for the prestigious Australian Music Prize, Melody and producer/instrumentalist husband, Michael Moko (Fanny Lumsden, Sara Storer, Kasey Chambers) finished a national tour with Ian Moss and Troy Cassar-Daley, boarded a plane to play revered US music festival, AmericanaFest and hit Nashville to work with Grammy Award nominated producer, Neilson Hubbard (Mary Gauthier, Matthew Ryan) - this time collaborating with the whole band as producers, including Ruston Kelly’s guitarist, Juan Solorzano and Engineer at East Nashville’s Skinny Elephant Studio, Dylan Alldredge. The result is an album that starts with the strong foundations of incredible and tasteful musicians serving the songs, hits you in the guts with its unbridled honesty and leaves you with a lasting impression.
The first single, “The Outskirts”, released in late 2022, introduced us to the bold new sound with an almost indie, but always country, take on life in suburbia. The single received high rotation on ABC Country & CMT, numerous Apple Music playlists and entered the Radio Monitor charts in its second week at number #31.
The new single, "Jesus Year", that also drops February 17, made waves earlier this week after the accompanying music video directed by Jazmyn Produces, was banned by a major US network. The uncensored version was premiered by Countrytown and later picked up by TheMusic.com.
"Jesus Year came about from a concept my manager (Kaz Waters) wanted me to embody. A Jesus Year is your 33rd year, a year where you are reborn in some sense. I felt that after suffering badly with Post Natal Depression after the birth of my third child, I had recovered a better person than I had been going into it. This song celebrates the idea that out of adversity comes triumph", says Melody.
"I was shocked because when we created this clip, Jazmyn, Kaz and I wanted to make a powerful visual message to support the track, which is a song about rebirth after a mental health crisis, so in including 'that scene' we believe we were representing the intensity of how that situation feels - I never assumed it would be considered gory! I also strongly support art without censorship. Being part of a genre and wider industry that visually represents the objectification of women and sexism in music videos regularly, I am quite taken aback that a bit of fake blood causes a video to be banned".
The album will be available in Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos, exclusively on Apple Music, mixed by Atmos Engineer, Michael Moko; the richly detailed production is a beautiful journey in 360-degree sound.
“Suburban Dream” is released Friday 17th February 2023 through Cheatin’ Hearts Records/Spunk! in Australia & New Zealand. The album will be out worldwide on Fri 17th March 2023 through Rebel and Roar.
SUBURBAN DREAM 2023 TOUR DATES
Thurs 23 Mar – Django Bar @ Camelot Lounge, Sydney NSW **
Fri 24 Mar – Servo Food Truck Bar, Port Kembla NSW **
Sun 2 Apr – The Wheatsheaf Hotel, Adelaide SA **
Fri 5 May – The Stag & Hunter Hotel, Newcastle NSW **
Sat 6 May – Flow Bar, Old Bar NSW **
Sat 13 May – It’s Still A Secret, Brisbane QLD ^
Sat 3 June – The Centre, Beaudesert QLD ^
Fri 9 June – Megan Hall, Megan NSW >
Sat 10 June – Let’s Wing It Festival, Scone NSW
Thurs 13 July – Oodies, Bundaberg QLD **
Sat 15 July – Vinnie’s Dive Bar, Gold Coast QLD ^
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