Melbourne technicolour folk outfit, The Elsewheres strip back for raw, romantically organic single, 'Move'

Melbourne’s technicolour experimental folk outfit, The Elsewheres strip back to prevent an earnest neo-folk single in ‘Move’.

The new track welds sparkling guitars and romantic storytelling, becoming an ode to the one that got away.

Stepping away from their explosive octet, The Elsewheres deliver a more intimate acoustic tale that nods to the neo-folk tradition laid down by the likes of Passenger, Vance Joy and Matt Corby.

‘Move’ is The Elsewheres pared back, exposed, and vulnerably beautiful. Harmonious alt-folk, organically rich, and when you close your eyes and take the track in, the little nuances reveal themselves, adding to the authenticity of the track. Lead vocalist Oliver’s deeper delivery adds to the story telling, layered tenderly with a duo of vocal harmonies. Hopelessly captivating and romantically playful, ‘Move’ makes you appreciate the innocence of fresh love.

Steeped in memory, ‘Move’ balances reflective storytelling with a playful mood, as lead singer and songwriter Oliver Northam explains “Move is a story I’ve been trying to weave for years. That hopeless romance abroad that sweeps you up, it’s perfect, you’re everything for a week ..and then their flight leaves. It’s foolish and it’s wonderful, I wanted to capture that young, blissfully naive love.”

After all those years, ‘Move’ was brought to life by producer Ken Richie and mastering engineer Jeremy Chua. It was Ken who overheard Oliver playing an old piano for sale at the Vintage Bazaar in Castlemaine and striking up a conversation, invited The Elsewheres to record at Jam In A Van, a small camper van recording studio based up in Eaglehawk. Several months later in the height of summer, the crew arrived, as Oliver recalls “it was blisteringly hot, the car had broken down on the way, but it was real, it felt right.”

With the hearty warmth of the squad's three-part harmonies, understated electric guitar swells and percussive groove, The Elsewheres prove that there’s a softer side to their usual blazing octet that saw them blast onto the scene in 2019. Since then, they have scored multiple festival appearances, including Newport Folk Festival, Nightjar Festival and Cygnet Folk Festival, while their debut single Into His Arms snagged community radio support and spent five consecutive weeks in triple j Unearthed’s Top 10 Chart.

To celebrate these successes and the release of ‘Move’, Oliver and The Elsewheres have a special launch show locked and loaded in Melbourne on Friday 28 June at Open Studio. And, as Oliver reveals, there’s much more excitement to come in 2024: “Move is just the beginning! ..We’ve got another single coming right behind, and something even bigger slated for the end of the year!”

‘Move’ is out now on all streaming platforms.