SIOBHAN COTCHIN
SHE IS the future queen of Australian country, fresh out of WA with ambitions high and guitar gripped tightly. At age 20, she sings like she’s lived a generation, raw and rootsy and nothing short of riveting.
SHE SOUNDS LIKE the heart and soul of country’s greatest spun through a distinctly modern web. Her playing is bold and tight and feels emphatically impassioned, and there’s genuine, palpable emotion in every line she roars into the mic. The rawness of her lead tone is subdued by crisp, contemporary production – and that isn’t at all to its detriment; instead, it posits Siobhan as a choice to pioneer the future of Australian country.
YOU’LL DIG HER IF YOU LIKE Kacey Musgraves, Lucinda Williams and Bruce Springsteen – ideally blast from the cassette deck in a beaten-up Jeep as you barrel down the bushlands. If anyone’s gonna write the next A-tier outback anthem, it’s Cotchin.
YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT any of the ripping four singles Cotchin debuted with in 2020. Whether it’s the dry, dusty twang and heart-on-sleeve howls of “Tear Myself Apart”, the roaring leads and soulful harmonies of “The Fair-Weather Friend Blues”, the scene-stealing solo work on “Do You Know What I Mean?” or the slick and simmering lull of “Just The Way It Is”, you’re bound to find something that’ll make your ears prick up.