#56 Feat. Hype in Electronica

Hush Hush Records is thrilled to team-up once again with IKSRE – the alias of Melbourne/Naarm-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and professional sound healer Phoebe Dubar – to help present Refurl. An expansive reimagining of IKSREs debut album Unfurl that she independently released in September 2019, Refurl celebrates Phoebes 5-year anniversary as IKSRE with a communal gathering of the friends, collaborators, and labelmates thats she made along her journey who contribute their own sublime interpretations of IKSREs earliest solo material. A classically-trained viola player who studied at the Victorian College of the Arts and was lead viola in Melbourne Youth Orchestra for years, Phoebe sang and played in different pop, rock, and funk bands throughout her 20s before launching her solo project IKSRE, an acronym for I Keep Seeing Rainbows Everywhere. The shift was a sonic response to her evolving lifestyle following the birth of her daughter and an increased focus on her daily yoga and meditation practice. Quietly self-released onto digital platforms in September 2019, IKSREs debut album Unfurl showcased her atmospheric and soothing ambient sound and found an early fan in KEXP DJ and Hush Hush Records founder/curator Alex Ruder. Alexs early radio support birthed a friendship and eventual partnership that soon led to Transmission, IKSREs label debut for Hush Hush that featured 10 remixes of songs originally found on IKSREs self-released 2020 sophomore album Intermission. Since the release of Transmission, Phoebes IKSRE project has blossomed in blissful fashion. Her third solo album III found a home once again on Hush Hush, and shes gone on to release subsequent solo albums on Londons Lo Recordings and Oaklands Constellation Tatsu Records. Her enthusiastic communal spirit has also led to collaborative releases with marine eyes (Past Inside the Present), anthéne (Polar Seas), Party Store (Stereoscenic), and Shelf Nunny (Hush Hush). Each release has furthered Phoebes organic mission to bring calming, healing, and restorative sounds into the world, leading to an impressive catalog and an evolving network of supportive like-minded artists from all over the globe. Refurl is a bit of a full circle moment between IKSRE and Hush Hush. In similar fashion to IKSREs label debut Transmission, Refurl finds the artist and label connecting to help present Phoebes music in a new light, this time through the vision of talented musician friends thats she made over the past few years, as each are now connected through direct collaborations, shared live performances, and/or label affiliations. Torontos anthéne kicks off the release, adding his slow-burning blissful touch to ISKREs debut single Black and Purple. Fellow Melbourne-based artist Willebrant delivers a lush and glacial take on 7min 6sec that stretches Phoebes ethereal vocals across a vast windswept landscape. Seattle-based artist Shelf Nunnys woozy, whimsical beats tap into a more pronounced atmospheric and lightly psychedelic realm on his remix of Tall Roads. Melbournes Clariloops composes a sweeping version of Crimson, placing Phoebes evocative viola into the forefront and accenting it with her gorgeous clarinet playing. Los Angeles duo awakened souls, aka Cynthia (aka marine eyes) and James Bernard, capture a delicately beautiful balance between chiming ambiance and pulsating arpeggios on ALONE. AT PARADISE that surprisingly yields the collections most concise rework. Hush Hush labelmates Tewksbury and Zoltan Fecso kick off the records back-half. Tewksbury bleeds together an enveloping wash of heavenly vocals, lonely strings, and the textural layers of a field recording on his hypnotic take of Black and Purple. Nearby Melbourne-based artist Zoltan Fecso explores a lightly percolating soundscape that delightfully refuses to stand still. Seattles Party Store supplies the albums most epic offering, laying out an immersive instrumental spell before summoning Phoebes vocals over a transfixing final third. Indianapolis-based musician and Past Inside the Present Records founder zaké closes out the release with an absorbing spin on way up there I see everything (guuguubarra), his washed-out droning paint strokes concluding the collection with an air of melancholy, mystery, and beauty. In addition to Refurl being released digitally on October 25th, the album will be released as a special double-cassette alongside Unfurl. This 2xCS release marks the first time IKSREs debut album Unfurl has been released on a physical format.

IKSRE