Brooklyn-based Aussie RVBY MY DEAR‘s music cinematically explores the space between quiet melancholy and simmering rage, with tracks that confidently navigate between calm introspective ballads, aggressive guitar-heavy breakbeats and hook-laden pop anthems.
Try, a beautiful single from her debut album Waiting, was released last month, along with a relatable and engaging music video to match.
In her new single Try, RVBY MY DEAR delivers her signature smooth, floating vocals in a glistening pop ballad evoking feelings of nostalgia, love and longing
RVBY MY DEAR is the atmospheric avante-pop project of Australian singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Gabbi Coenen. Originally from Perth, Coenen formed RVBY MY DEAR as an outlet for her songwriting in late 2012, after moving to New York to attend The New School’s jazz voice program.
The band’s sound has a variety of influences, spanning in diversity from ’90s British acts such as Portishead and Massive Attack, to the orchestral balladry of Björk, as well as the modern beat-driven sounds of Daughter and James Blake.
RVBY MY DEAR’s single Try is a smooth pop anthem that follows a gradual crescendo, featuring Coenen’s floating moody vocals at the foreground, with a backdrop of alluring synth and guitar harmonies, and dynamic electronic-inspired beats, delivered with a cinematic sheen.
Coenen says that “‘Try’ is a relationship song, though it’s not exactly coming from a loving place. It’s about wanting the person you’re with to essentially give a damn about themselves and the relationship, and feeling frustrated with bearing the weight of responsibility.”
The music video, filmed in Coenen’s hometown of Perth, is directed by and starring award-winning director Hannah Pascoe, and also stars young indigenous actor Jarrad Draper.
The video is a “widescreen, cinematic take on the morning after a raging party” where a young man wakes up in a daze and “his mind slowly pieces together what happened the night before. It’s nostalgic for those moments in one’s early adulthood before real life hits, which are reflected in the last verse of the song ‘remember when it felt like we could do anything’.”
The track was one of the first releases from RVBY MY DEAR’s debut album Waiting which was released last month. The nine-track album which was written, in large part, while Coenen’s life was put on hold in a lengthy wait for a visa renewal.
As she wasn’t allowed to work or perform for six months while she waited for her visa to be renewed, Coenen says that this experience left her feeling “stuck between wanting to please collaborators/old band members and assert my own voice; and getting my life on track while waiting for permission by this huge force to do so.”
RVBY MY DEAR’s new album Waiting is available on all major streaming services, and on vinyl via Villainy Records.
