Melbourne-based musician and songwriter, Hello Satellites aka Eva Popov, has released her debut solo single Thief ahead of her forthcoming album, There is a Field – which is set for release in early 2021.
Built from sampled ukulele parts and retro synths, Thief is a moody clockwork reflection on regret and accountability. “Thief was written as a fairly quick, throwaway song on my daughter’s ukulele. It’s quick simplicity allowed me to reflect back on a situation in my life where I hadn’t been honest with myself, or anyone, despite my best intentions,” said Popov.
“Thief is about frustrations. At the time of writing I had a family, I was a friend, a wife and a mother, doing the best as I could through curating emotions and actions. Yet, the underlying truth was something much more volatile and wild. And in curating and avoiding the truth, I felt like I had become a liar and a thief, unable to repair a reality that sat murkily in the past.”
“So, with my daughter’s ukulele at hand, I found myself pouring out this song filled with all its simplicity as a complete reflection on where I had been and where I am today.”
With three albums under the moniker Hello Satellites and two solo releases, this is her first album release in three years. The accompanying music video was created by Anastassia Krstevska and Cam Venn who joined Eva Popov on a road trip to her favourite Australian destinations – Venus Bay and Wilsons Promontory.
“We used cameras and our phones to explore the concept of timelapse, movement and the natural elements. We improvised with movement and speed, in the end creating what I hope is a love letter to the wild and wonderful South Gippsland coast, as well as a reflection on time and making and unmaking,” said Popov.
Hello Satellites’ fourth album, There is a Field, is a one-woman exploration of Eva Popov’s relationship to the Australian landscape, her entanglement with addiction and digital disconnection and a search for healing.
“I wrote this album from a suburban perspective of a person surrounded by concrete and buried by coping strategies, where land becomes mythical. I was fueled by the search for fictional and real places where restlessness turns to acceptance, lostness turns to belonging, loss and regret is offered up for redemption. Thief is the start of this journey,” said Popov.
Sonically, the album traverses from virtual orchestral dreamscapes to pop songs reveling in the joy of retro synths, quirky samples and drum machines, to acoustic guitar and piano-based meditations on meaning and recovery.
Produced independently with the support of long-time collaborator Nick Huggins, the album is Hello Satellites’ most independent work yet, approaching thematic explorations with sonic playfulness and experimentation. The album falls back on the longtime tradition of folk songs that ask the questions, search for the answers and tell the stories that rattle around in the secret spaces of the heart.
Thief is now available and can be heard on all streaming platforms: Instagram | Spotify | Bandcamp | YouTube
Image: Hello Satellites’ Eva Popov (supplied)