Ariane Campbell’s ‘As The Crow Flies’ is the sound of a musician who knows exactly what she wants from a rock song.
There’s a certain kind of musician who keeps Australian rock ticking. The ones who write, play, tour, produce, jump into other people’s projects and spend years doing the work without making too much of a racket about it.
Sarah McLeod, Adalita, Mia Dyson – artists who have built careers by working their arses off and knowing exactly what they bring to a song.
Campbell is very much cut from that cloth.
You can hear pretty quickly that she has spent a long time around rock ’n’ roll: years of gigs, different bands, different cities and plenty of loud guitars.
On ‘As The Crow Flies’, the Sydney-born, long-time New York musician sounds completely at home somewhere between alt-rock, country, blues and straight-up rock ’n’ roll.
And the guitars are bloody good.
Campbell handles rhythm while Nat Allison takes the lead, the two working around each other without crowding the song.
There’s something of Sarah McLeod in that rock instinct and Adalita in the restraint. Not because Campbell sounds exactly like either, but because she understands something they both do well: you don’t need to push a song harder than it wants to go.
Campbell’s vocal works the same way.
She keeps it cool, direct and a little gritty, with a touch of that PJ Harvey, all controlled – but edgy as fuck.
The cool and direct becomes important when you get into what the song is actually about.
‘As The Crow Flies’ is a great idiom that, personally, I don’t think gets used nearly enough. It’s an old way of describing the most direct distance between two points.
Campbell applies that idea to relationships, cutting through all the usual noise and getting straight to what matters.
There’s optimism in there too. Not the shiny everything-will-be-fine kind, but the more believable version that comes from knowing life is messy and choosing to follow something anyway.
It feels fitting for Campbell.
Originally from Sydney, she moved to Manhattan, studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Art and continued writing and performing.
She has since played across Australia, New York and London, released two albums and written music for television in Australia and the US.
She has also worked with Sarah McLeod, Mick Skelton, Jeff Martin and members of Koritni, and supported The Troggs on their 50th anniversary Wild Thing tour.
Campbell grew up worshipping Chrissy Amphlett, which makes sense when you hear the lack of fuss in her approach. Strong guitars and a strong vocal are enough to make the track land, and we’ve got mad respect for that kind of craft.
Recorded at Forbes Street Studios with producer, engineer and bassist Lewis Mitchell alongside drummer Luke Davison, ‘As The Crow Flies’ has a nice in-the-room feel.
The rhythm section keeps things moving, Allison’s guitar gets plenty of space and Campbell sits comfortably in the middle of it all.
It feels loose in the right places.
More importantly, after the barrage of AI music flooding our feeds, it feels human.
There are plenty of artists who know how to make rock ’n’ roll look convincing. Campbell sounds like someone who has been doing it long enough that she doesn’t need to think too hard about it. It’s in her bones.
‘As The Crow Flies’ is the first taste of a new album currently in the works, and there’s no big reinvention happening here.
Just a musician who knows what she does well and trusts it.
After years of bands, studios, cities and miles on the road, Campbell has written a song about taking the direct route.
By the sounds of it, she’s found hers.
Listen to ‘As The Crow Flies’ below.
