Melbourne singer songwriter Claire Birchall returns with a new solo album of dark and personal pop songs. A “gothic” tapestry of carefully articulated layered melodies, multifarious, diverse and divergent instrumentation, adorned with vocals that duck and weave around each other in often surprising and experimental patterns. The Haunting is a moodier and, at times heavier, and more emotionally complex album than its predecessor Running in Slow Motion (itLP016 2020). Inspired by nightmares, fairy tales and ghost stories, the songs describe themes of loss, fear, grief, sadness and anxiety.

A truly exploratory musician Claire has delved deeper into the synth world. Having added a new array of vintage and modern synths and drum machines to her collection, she also incorporated more organic and vintage instruments into the mix, Such as the piano she learned to play music on as a child, a 100 year old pump organ, a 1970s Yamaha organ, a Japanese taisho koto (electric drone harp), guitars and percussion.

The Haunting sees Claire’s songcraft bloom into a more fully fleshed out and expansive soundscape. An album that blurs the boundaries between rock and pop, electronic and analogue. Traversing a heady mix of genre, tempo. Invoking everything from edgy disco to anguished torch song.