"A boy is a bee / you will always have control of me," Nick Batterham's feather-light voice opens with a sprinkle of piano keys.
The Naarm-based composer and producer has a distinct way of creating emotional pull within his music. A Boy Is A Bee, the first single off his forthcoming album The Sentimentalist (out May 17), weaves a heartwrenching web of dedication and suffering for love.
Fusing together a wide range of influences from alternative folk to orchestral pop, Nick Batterham’s seventh solo album is a shimmering delight. It’s clear the veteran songwriter has only sharpened with time, honing in on his distinct style and the raw reliability that sets him apart.
Nick Batterham – The Sentamentalist
- Out May 17
- A Boy Is A Bee – first single out now
- Launch show at the Northcote Social Club on June 2
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A Boy Is A Bee serves as the perfect introduction to the new collection: simple, spacious, yet enchanting from the first moment to the last. Georgia Knight adds just the right amount of sparkle, her breathy and delicate voice reverberating atop the lilting instrumental.
The accompanying video, created by Batterham’s old film industry friends Ben Saunders and cinematographer Germain McMickin, sees Batterham engulfed in smoke – both calming the hive and softening the world’s edges. Shot in a time capsule house in Altona North, the video is moody and metaphor-laden, adding texture to the haunting track.
“[Ben] has an absurd and dark sense of humour and a gentleness that I thought would be the perfect fit for my music. My songs can be quite earnest, so I thought Ben’s humour would help sweeten the medicine,” he says.
To celebrate the launch of The Sentimentalist, Battenham is set to host an afternoon show at Melbourne’s Northcote Social Club on Sunday, June 2, joined by Ben Wiesner on drums, Nick Murray on electric guitar and Jethro Woodward on bass and mandolin. New York-based singer-songwriter Stephanie Cherote will provide support for the evening, bringing her chilling bare-bones acoustic show.
For more on Nick Batterham, head here.
