Late last year Airling, AKA Hannah Shepherd, shared her first new music release in 8 years to a warm embrace. As Airling, she pours her heart into life and opens it to the world through music. Following the release of her debut album, she found new meaning and direction in nursing, another calling for her empathetic nature. Time away from the industry gave her space to retrieve her inspiration.

Shepherd says, “My love and thirst for music has never changed – but I wanted and needed time away to rediscover the joy of it. That fire has been reignited and I’ve poured my heart into Retrieve. In the time away, I’ve had the space to be in my favourite state again while making music… a song comes to me and I just play. There’s no expectations and no judgement – nothing external to pierce that magical moment.”

R e t r i e v e /rɪ’triːv/
To find and bring something precious back.
To retrieve what was lost.
To go forth and recover.

Retrieve is a powerful reclamation of purpose through vocation – “Music is feeling alive”. Returning with a collection of sophisticated dream-pop songs that pair crisp RnB production with crystalline vocals, Retrieve explores experiences of loss, recovery, infatuation and power. Preluded with ‘Mona Lisa’, the Double J playlisted ‘Better When You Groove’ and collaboration with her formative creative partner TomIansek on ‘Love Lessons’.

Rounding out the release is ‘Stars’, an emphatic parallel of head and heart-led impulses while the arpeggiating ‘Reach Out’ melds digital production against a fundamental call for physical connection. Elsewhere ‘Dust’ is a hypnotic Faye Webster lilt. Reflective of the breadth of her influences that straddle nostalgia with catharsis, the resulting Retrieve is a spiral bound relay of emotion with the clarity of determination.

Pulling deep from the depths of her own self, she continues, “I believe there’s no shame in emoting what you feel and that there’s strength in this type of authenticity. I’m an intuitive person and one who’s quick to smile and quick to cry. I’m always singing to reach the stars and often with a heavy heart. My music comes with this bittersweet quality – warm and melty, but also dark, brooding, and fearless.”

Made with long time collaborators Tom Iansek (#1 Dads, Big Scary) and Graham Ritchie (Holy Holy, Scenes) – the same team as her debut EP Love Gracefully and LP Hard to Sleep, Easy to Dream – at her home in Brisbane, 4000 Studios and BellBird Studio, Melbourne. Each moment throughout was played, spoken, sung or programmed by Graham, Tom and Hannah, Retrieve is ardent, primal and above all, moving.