Airling today shares the final single ‘Love Lessons’, from her forthcoming EP Retrieve due March 6 via Pieater. LISTEN HERE + PRE-SAVE HERE.

Airling and Tom Iansek’s collaborative relationship is a longstanding intertwining of their kindred creative spirits. Tacit and natural. Their bond has been seminal to Airling’s artistry since day one, with ‘Love Lessons’ reflective of their shorthand in the studio, effortlessly feeding from one to the other. Conversely to the single’s subject matter, ‘Love Lessons’ speaks to the understanding at the heart of a relationship.

“I had been writing this idea and played it for Tom one day in the studio,” Airling shares. “We started riffing over some beats and the verses seemed to pour out of him effortlessly. His sensual spoken word narrative got everything to fall into place. Love Lessons then became this warm and glorious song featuring the introspective and extrospective musings of two people trying to navigate their love for one another. I was thinking of negotiation and compromise as a kind of intimate and complex dance. There’s this push and pull in this duet that moves like the ebb and flow of water between the male and female vocals.”

For Iansek, “It was so great to reconnect musically with Hannah, Love Lessons felt like us picking up exactly where we left off. Working intuitively and with a sense of play, it felt early on that this song – which began just as the chorus you hear – needed another voice. What we built together that day grew on us fondly and with a few other choice embellishments, it became the beauty it is now.”

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.

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 rediscover the joy of making music, without expectation or judgement, and ultimately retrieve her inspiration.

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. Previewed by ‘Mona Lisa‘ and the Double J playlisted ‘Better When You Groove‘, It was 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 was played, spoken, sung or programmed by Graham, Tom and Hannah.