Julia Jacklin, Chela and Skeleten: Australia’s best new music for July

(L-R) Meghna, Julia Jacklin, Sarah Mary Chadwick, and Skeleten have new singles among the best songs of the month. Composite: Rice is Nice/Redferns/Lorne Thomson/Danny Draxx/Michelle Grace Hunder

Skeleten – Territory Day

For fans of: Four Tet, Harvey Sutherland, The xx

Plaintive and yearning: Skeleten’s new track Territory Day. Photograph: Danny Draxx

Yearning, arguably, is the base mode of pop music, a genre filled with unrequited crushes and infatuated lovers. The sort of desire so bad it leaves its sufferer unable to eat or sleep has inspired everything from the Drive soundtrack to a recent Ice Spice hit; now it makes its way into the new single from Sydney producer Skeleten. “I won’t eat, won’t sleep / Won’t go out, try my luck,” he repeats – an enigmatic mantra that grows increasingly plaintive over a thud of conga drums and an aeriform synth line floating high above the ground like a distant dream. – Michael Sun

For more: Skeleten’s debut album, Under Utopia, is out 28 July.

Julia Jacklin – Shivers

For fans of: Rowland S Howard, Adrianne Lenker, Marissa Nadler

‘Sparse, ethereal vocals’: Jacklin’s cover of Rowland S Howard’s classic. Photograph: Nick Mckk

Many have had a crack at Rowland S Howard’s wry, post-punk ode to melodramatic teenage love, including his Boys Next Door bandmate Nick Cave, whose portentous baritone stripped the song of any witticism – as well as the Screaming Jets, Courtney Barnett, and now Julia Jacklin. Recorded for a compilation celebrating the late Australian music producer Tony Cohen (who worked on the original), Jacklin takes the cult classic to foreboding new heights. Her sparse, ethereal vocals crescendo to a blaze of bass, harmonies and militaristic drumming. As the lyrics say, it’ll send shivers down your spine. – Janine Israel

For more: Jacklin’s third album, Pre Pleasure, is out now.

Sarah Mary Chadwick – Shitty Town

For fans of: The Mountain Goats, Mount Eerie, sadsack piano anthems

Sarah Mary Chadwick’s new song Shitty Town is out now. Photograph: Sian Stacey

Shitty Town, a staple of Sarah Mary Chadwick’s string of piano and flute residency shows in 2021, finds the Melbourne singer-songwriter at her most brilliantly caustic, tying up threads of resentment, regret and self-belief into a piano ballad that’s bold and bracing. Chadwick’s subject matter has largely stayed the same throughout her career, and it’s songs like Shitty Town that make you hope she’ll continue on this path forever – few other singer-songwriters currently working can write with such gut-wrenching clarity. – Shaad D’Souza

For more: Sarah Mary Chadwick’s new album, Messages To God, is out later this year.

Perfect Actress – Leather

For fans of: Sonic Youth, Low Life

‘A sordid little number’: Leather by Perfect Actress. Photograph: Elliott Lauren Ryan

I can think of no better name for a punk band than Perfect Actress. Perfect in this case is not an aspiration, but a bratty threat, conjuring pristine plastic soon to melt. Compromised of Naomi Kent, Darren Lesaguis, Gus McGrath and Collarbones’ Marcus Whale, they have just released their first EP and it’s the ideal primer to the band’s petulant vocals and buzzing guitars. Its best track is Leather: a sordid little number about the body being swaddled in various skin-tight fabrics. – Isabella Trimboli

For more: Listen to the discographies of Marcus Whale and Collarbones, as well as Gus McGrath, who performs under California Girls.

Angie McMahon – Saturn Returning

For fans of: Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, Florence + the Machine

A cosmic comeback: McMahons’s first new single in three years. Photograph: Taylor Ranston

On her first new single in three years, the Melbourne singer-songwriter Angie McMahon emerges from a period of astrological turmoil (the titular Saturn return) with newfound hope, self-compassion and awe at nature’s cycles. “I’m gonna love every inch of this body / The limbs that are writing each day of this story / I’m gonna surrender my keys to the universe,” McMahon sings on this cosmic comeback that explodes like a sonic supernova into a cascade of ravishing euphoria. – Janine Israel

For more: Revisit McMahon’s 2019 debut album, Salt.

Folk Bitch Trio – Analogue

For fans of: Boygenius, First Aid Kit, Julia Jacklin

For fans of Boygenius … Folk Bitch Trio’s wondrous harmonies. Photograph: Carly Kyberd

One of two new singles from Melbourne’s Folk Bitch Trio showcases what the group does best: sumptuous and effortless three-part harmony. There are gentle hints of 60s doo-wop in this lovely tune, but it’s made contemporary with a combination of guitars – lap steel, acoustic, and electric – which swell and retreat to make room for the trio’s heavenly vocals. Gracie Sinclair, Jeanie Pilkington and Heide Peverelle take turns leading before melting back together, thick and rich as molasses. Drown me in it. – Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen

For more: Folk Bitch Trio play a sold-out show at Melbourne’s Northcote Social Club on 15 July.

Shady Nasty – G-Shock

For fans of: For Those I Love, Fontaines D.C., Black Midi

Kevin Stathis of Sydney post-punk trio Shady Nasty. Photograph: Luca Watson

Shady Nasty’s music has always sounded like an engine revving: all menacing snarls and noxious guitars through a pungent fog of exhaust. Produced by the Presets’ Kim Moyes, the Sydney post-punk trio’s latest single continues – in their own words – vocalist Kevin Stathis’s “obsession with hotted up cars”. Through a dead-eyed drone, Stathis namechecks parallel parking and Diet Coke; a morass of references which give way, momentarily, to the screech of rubber on bitumen. “Leaving everything behind … that’s the best part of this tight grind,” Stathis intones: a paean to escapism. – Michael Sun

For more: Shady Nasty are currently touring across Australia’s east coast, with dates until 29 July

Chela – Hard 4 U

For fans of: Muna, Carly Rae Jepsen

‘A fizzy confection’: Chela’s new single. Photograph: Rahnee Bliss

The Sydney pop singer Chela wrote Hard 4 U about the experience of falling in love with her next-door neighbour during lockdown. True to that genesis, it feels alive with the potential of thrill and connection, with spangly 80s-indebted guitars channeling profound, intense euphoria. Although Chela has always traded in brightly toned dance-pop, Hard 4 U feels particularly ecstatic – a fizzy confection. – Shaad D’Souza

For more: Chela has a formidable body of brash electro-pop singles, but no album yet.

Wireheads – Persistent Resistance

For fans of: Pixies, Pavement, UV Race

The Adelaide band Wireheads went on hiatus in 2017, but they’ve come roaring back with Potentially Venus, a wonderfully wonky indie rock record. The album track Persistent Resistance is a little cryptic, featuring a wandering protagonist whose luck might soon run out, followed by a sinister character adorned with clocks. It brims with wry wordplay – on cliffs, Casio watches, and time machines – that I would do a disservice to spell out here. Then there are the great, fuzzy, crisscrossing riffs and Dom Trimboli’s (no relation, I think), delightful sardonic vocal delivery. – Isabella Trimboli

For more: Listen to Wireheads’ excellent new record, Potentially Venus.

Meghna – Pacifist Philosophy

For fans of: SZA, Kehlani

The Melbourne songwriter Meghna inhabits a unique sonic world. While she has rapped on previous singles, her pipes are on full display here as she blends elements of trap, R&B, soul, hip-hop, and electronica. Pacifist Philosophy reflects on the ways in which the powers that be rely on violence in an already chaotic and unkind world. Heavy content aside, it’s slick and surprising, marking Meghna as one to watch. A key change in the final 30 seconds is an unexpected delight. – Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen

For more: Listen to Meghna’s previous singles – Hypnotising, In My DNA and Bad Thoughts.