Today, Brisbane, Australia based indie-pop riser Asha Jefferies rips through the seams of all this “gay pop” discourse with her debut album Ego Ride, a stunningly poignant, at times danceable, at times tear-jerking full length triumph in the study of self reflection. The record’s release via Nettwerk and comes along with a DIY video by Miss Jefferies herself. Listen to Ego Ride HERE. 

Fans of Sheryl Crow, Elastica, Wombo, or Tom Petty will love everything from the grand piano echoing, as if its opened up wide in an empty hall, on track one “Stranger,” leading into the bouncing bass on “Keep My Shit Together,” where you get an instant idea of the humor Asha is able to layer onto her introspective, reflective lyrics. Halfway through the record we get her Summer ’23 hit “Tank Tops,” a guaranteed sob-fest in “Spinning,” into the most euphoric release in “Brand New Bitch.”

Of the title and final track, Asha says, “I had been saying the album was finished even though it didn’t feel like it. When I wrote it, it felt like the perfect wrap up song, tying all of the stories of the album together without meaning to. It speaks to self-doubt and being able to see when your ego is driving. Each time the song’s dynamics rise, it feels like I’m popping the bubble of a spiral and coming back into myself. Sam [of Ball Park Music] and I had so much fun adding a pulse to this song as well as the subtle vocoder, which really makes the song breathe.”

I’m being awkward as hell
Still don’t know why
You’ve never known how it’s felt
To be so petrified
….Ego ride

Watch the video for “Ego Ride” here.

Ego Ride is a story of growth and opening. A collection of songs that embody joy, heartbreak, playfulness, tenderness, light, grief, loss, and most importantly, change. It is not a break up album, it is an album about what happens from a break up. It’s a story of identity revelations and breakthroughs, sparked by heartbreak. It is a story about leaving toxic, trapped partnerships, leaping open armed into community and friendships and the discovery of the queer self.

Of the record, Jefferies says, “It is a story written and dedicated to my younger self, that the meter of your world will keep on running and there is hope to be had. These songs have a fundamentally ‘together’ feeling made possible by the collaboration between my band and Sam Cromack (producer and engineer of the album; of Ball Park Music). All songs were recorded live together in one room and the sound of the album shapeshifts from indie pop to piano ballad to psychedelic indie rock to folktronica.”

With such a wide range of influence and comparison, Jefferies’ songs are euphoric in more ways than one, coming from the most vulnerable depths of a young woman learning to express her queerness. Written in a time of tremendous change, discovery and exploration, Asha notes the impact of acts including Angel Olsen, Big Thief, The Beatles, Lucy Dacus, Father John Misty and Radiohead. Her 2021 debut EP The Pinnacle introduced her as an artist with limitless potential, with its follow up single “Tank Tops” also being added to full rotation on triple j, becoming a local queer anthem, and one of 2022’s most celebrated local tracks.

Asha Jeffieries is hot on the heels of her US debut, playing New York, Los Angeles, and SXSW. She’s played notable Australian festival slots at BIGSOUND, Icebreaker Festival, Against The Grain, Bluesfest, Woodford Folk, and Mullum Music Festivals. Asha has won a Queensland Music Award, triple j Unearthed’s NIDA Competition, and has been a finalist for both the Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition and the International Songwriting Competition (ISC).