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Phia

by Phia

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $7 AUD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Full colour gatefold version of my new album, featuring cover artwork by Tai Snaith. Full lyrics inside. Only 150 copies printed.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Phia via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days

      $40 AUD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a lovely gatefold card case, with pull out lyrics booklet. Designed by Laura Douglas and featuring artwork by Tai Snaith.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Phia via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days

      $25 AUD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 11 Phia releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Phia, Someone Out There, Full Circle feat. Melbourne Indie Voices, Town Hall Live Sessions, The Woman Who Counted The Stars, The Ocean of Everything, So Far, So Close, Live in Paris, and 3 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $49.40 AUD or more (35% OFF)

     

1.
I’m full to the brim with it
I ’m overflowing with it
 Right now I can’t handle it 
Can’t put a handle on it 
I can’t find the road in
 The path towards where I want to go

 Can’t get a grip on it 
Will it go from bad to worse before it gets better? 
I want you to tell me
 Do you want me to convince you? 
Do you want me to?
 The path towards where I want to go 

I scrounge on my knees 
I treasure the scraps you leave
 They keep me sustained for years 
They replay in my ears over and over again 
How long until we’re on
 The path towards where I want to go
2.
Turning around, what do I see? Turning around, I keep stepping on the cracks
 I’m definitely walking forward and I’m not looking back
 But I keep seeing visions and flickers of things
Out of the corner of my eye, it goes when my head spins Turning around, what do I see? I’m carrying around a museum of me 
 In my pocket, and it’s reminding me of it constantly
 I’m endlessly wandering the rooms and observing
 What could be occupying my mind instead of self-preserving? Turning around, what do I see? Sucked in, sucked out, I’m here then I’m there
 It takes me unawares as if I had time to spare 
I’m wondering why I can’t live in the moment
 When I’m tossed and turned with the click of a button Turning around, what do I see? Thinking ‘bout the time when I had it all
 Thinking ‘bout the time that I had it all 
Wondering ‘bout the time, if I had it all?
 Thinking ‘bout the time, did I have it at all? Turning around, what do I see?
3.
I never dreamed of a white wedding I never dreamed of marriage at all I never heard those church bells ringing In my dreams I never heard them call In the schoolyard we’d play games Trying to imagine all the places we’d see We’d pretend to be old How many kids we’d have and what their names would be I never thought it would be so hard Trying to reconcile all the parts of me inside Crumpled face waking Warm hug on a lap These are the things that make me come back Little head resting a cheek on a shoulder Maybe there’s a way to bring things back full circle We’re all carrying around A little version of us, our inner child Wondering what they’d think of us now Would they look up to us and be proud? I never thought it would be so hard Trying to reconcile all the parts of me inside Crumpled face waking Warm hug on a lap These are the things that make me come back Little head resting a cheek on a shoulder Maybe there’s a way to bring things back full circle Do you have to lose part of yourself to grow?  I don’t know if I want to I push forward and I pull back It’s a dance that I don’t know all of the steps to Bring things back full circle
4.
Fitzroy 02:27
Riding my bike down the back streets of Fitzroy I'm crossing through Edinburgh Gardens with new mums on the lawn Meeting mum for coffee We’re chatting about the weekend I’m thinking about her when she was young and me at her age I feel my old life fade away Things are shifting, things are changing I feel it slippery as silk I used to drink black tea but now I have it with milk My world is getting smaller My parents live around the corner But I seem to be growing faster than before I feel my old life fade away
5.
Relentless tides, in and out Never stopping, keepin gtime A cycle as old as mother earth I set my watch to you When things get hard an dyou can’t find A way out of your own head I find the road that leads me back to you Wash me in the ocean and turn me around I’ll go down to the bottom, I’ll get turned upside down Wash me in the ocean and bundle me up In skies of blue and dry me on the sand ’Til I’m clean and new Ancient cliff face, layers of time Coastlines stretching on for miles Shells speak of a recent past A shameful story, stolen land Rocks loom large out of the sea Where southern water meets the land A volcanic start, I can’t forget The lighthouse calls to me Wash me in the ocean and turn me around I’ll go down to the bottom, I’ll get turned upside down Wash me in the ocean and bundle me up In skies of blue and dry me on the sand ’Til I’m clean and new
6.
What if there’s someone out there better for you than me? Maybe I'm just in the way thinking selfishly? What if there’s someone out there who fits you to a T And can comfort you with no anxiety? You even said yourself we’re very different And you find it hard to recall the good things about when we met I remember our first kiss The electricity that ran through my lips and down my body Maybe I was wrong to think our difference made us strong Was I wrong to see in you something for which I long Maybe I was wrong to think that I would be the one to support you be your rock your moon your sun I remember our first kiss The electricity that ran through my lips and down my body  Maybe there’s someone out there and they’ve found someone else And we can work this all out love ourselves back to health I remember our first kiss The electricity that ran through my lips and down my body
7.
All my friends are having children but I still feel like a child I still need to call my mum when things feel like they’re getting hard All my friends are having children but I don’t feel quite grown up yet I’m still figuring all the things out and not fully self-reliant I look at little babies and I imagine what ours would look like Your curly hair, my blue eyes, probably both of our anxieties I think I want one, probably two but you don’t feel quite ready yet I would wait another ten years but although I feel like a child I’m not. All my friends are having children but I still feel like a child But maybe all of us still feel that way until the day we die
8.
They used the stars to find out where they needed to go
 They followed the stars to work out what direction was home
 Although it was dark, they used the light
 Although it is dark, can we hold on tight? Cos I’ve been told it gets worse before it gets better 
Before the clear skies there’s a lot of bad weather
 We have to navigate through it all together
 Yeh I’ve been told it’s gonna hurt before you heal
 You have to feel pain before it gets real
If we open our eyes, the stars will appear You are the star orbiting out of my atmosphere 
I am the line at which the sky meets the sea 
Let’s find the point between you and me 
It’s never as far away as it seems 

 Cos I’ve been told it gets worse before it gets better 
Before the clear skies there’s a lot of bad weather
 We have to navigate through it all together
 Yeh I’ve been told it’s gonna hurt before you heal
 You have to feel pain before it gets real
 If we open our eyes, the stars will appear 
(It will get better, we’ll weather it together)
9.
We'd sleep in every day, our bed was in the living room.  We only had two rooms. Making peanut butter toast and earl grey tea,  you would bring them to me. I didn't have a diary I'd remember to meet up for coffee Cafes don't open til 11 or so so we'd move slow. That's the first thing I noticed moving back here,  You can't get a coffee after 3, I guess everyone gets up so early The streets are paved with cobblestones and memories All of my dreams In my mind I will always be 25 I close my eyes That's the first thing I noticed moving back here,  You can't get a coffee after 3, I guess everyone gets up so early I’m coming back but not to the start I’m bringing my present in line with the past I’m coming face to face with my heart I’m coming back but not to the start That's the first thing I noticed moving back here, (I’m coming back but not to the start)  You can't get a coffee after 3, I guess everyone gets up so early (I’m coming back but not to the start)
10.
Cool Change 03:18
I can smell rain coming in on the wind Lift my face up and I breathe it in  The sweet breeze and it's a-alright  If maybe I cry because the rain will  Wash it away, wash it away anyhow I'm going stand here ’til I'm soaked  ‘Cos it's a cool change coming through my window It’s a cool change coming through my door It’s a cool change coming into my life and I want more Try not to fight it Try not to resist It is best if you let yourself get swept up by it Like the leaves on an autumn day You have to let go, just unclench your fists And let the water take you wherever it leads Although you can’t see the way ‘Cos it's a cool change coming through your window It’s a cool change coming through your door It’s a cool change coming into my life and I want more
11.
Sometimes I'm listening to your words But not hearing what you are trying to tell me I’m waiting for the spark to jump the gap
 Words reflect, they refract
 Swing roundabout and forth and back 
They resonate between us We try to transmit, things modulate
 Amplify, we frustrate
 The energy it resonates
 Sometimes we don’t mean what we say Sending out radio waves
 We all just want to be saved
 By someone inadvertently tuning into our frequency Our days and nights are intertwined 
We’re in cahoots, you laugh, 
And time, it stretches out
 A sparkling line ahead of us together. No need to adjust the dial 
Sometimes it slips, we’ve picked a side
 Barricaded, drawn a line
 And we’re on opposite sides Sending out radio waves
 We all just want to be saved
 By someone inadvertently tuning into our frequency

about

Songwriter, composer and founder and artistic director of Melbourne Indie Voices, Phia is lauded both at home and on the international stage for her luscious harmonies and vivid pop sensibilities.

On her second album, Phia brings together her two musical worlds - joyous choral harmonies and live looping - in a wholly imaginative and unique way. Phia, is the culmination of a period of artistic and personal growth in which she carved a new place in Melbourne’s musical landscape since arriving back from her then-home of Berlin in 2016.

With "Phia" she has arrived at a new found honesty, lyrically and musically, with the album featuring the sounds that make up her life - the metal and wood of her thumb piano, the magical guitar work of long time collaborator Joshua Teicher and the heart-stopping performances of Melbourne Indie Voices weaving its way in and out of her songs, creating a sound that is harmonically distinctive and rich.

credits

released June 13, 2022

All songs written and arranged by Phia 2020.
Produced by Nick Huggins and Phia.
Recorded and mixed by Nick Huggins in Pt Lonsdale, Victoria.
Additional co-production by Joshua Teicher
Mastered by Lachlan Carrick at Moose Mastering, Richmond.

Kalimba, loops, casio, piano, synth bass, vocals - Phia
Guitars, effects, piano - Joshua Teicher
Choir on The Path, Full Circle, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better and Radio Waves - Melbourne Indie Voices, arranged by Phia and recorded by Nick Huggins at Schoolhouse Studios, Collingwood.
Cellos and vocals on Someone Out There - Xavia Nou

Melbourne Indie Voices singers:
Ali Glaubitz, Andrea La Greca, Anna Lorenz, Anna Norris, Anna Senior, Bec Welsford, Belinda Nisbet, Bess Jenkins, Bethan Jones, Caitlin Whyte, Caitlin Wood, Carli Wells, Caroline Levy, Cat Bach, Cat Nobes, Cath Edwards, Catherine Healy, Claire Gilbert, Claire Slattery, Deb Mylne, Ebony Fietz, Ellen Kang, Ellie Bennett, Emily Vearing, Emma Dunlevie, Emma Griffingham, Emma Tinney, Gemma Bauman, Gina Andriani, Gus Burgess, Jacqueline Flynn, Jaimee Honter, Jane Herington, Jane Hodge, Jaye Hayes, Jemima Jarman, Jessica Doyle, Jessie Upton, Jesús Grau Heredia, Joanne Maloney, Julia Nazarewicz, Katherine Schofield, Kurt Winter, Laura Andrew, Laura Vines, Lee Wong, Leesa Young, Lian Lu, Lisa Duncan, Lucia Clarke, Lucy Salt, Magdalena Janiak, María José Valencia Aliaga, Meg Dow, Megan Stewart, Mel Erwin, Michelle Sier, Miranda Gaze, Nicola De Rosbo-Davies, Nila Jayasekera, Pamela Gilbert, Phoebe Doolette, Rachel Brasse, Rangi De Silva, Rebecca Welsford, Roz Girvan, Ruby Loosli, Ruby Stevens, Ruth Brown, Sally Esse, Sarah Synott, Sergio Escarraga Restrepo, Suzi Riess, Suzie Roach, Talia Dar, Tamara Jolly, Tessa Fluence, Tom Tanhchareun, Wendy Bartsch, Zoe Teh

Cover painting by Tai Snaith
Design by Laura Douglas

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Phia Melbourne, Australia

Phia is the entrancing DIY-art-pop music project of multi-instrumentalist songwriter and composer Sophia Exiner.

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