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Mar 08, 2024 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Jax Oliver

Brisbane-based indie pop singer/songwriter Asha Jefferies debuted in 2021 with her EP The Pinnacle and followed last year with a series of euphoric new singles teasing her forthcoming full-length album, Ego Ride. Jefferies describes the record as “...a story written and dedicated to my younger self, that the meter of your world will keep on running and there is hope to be had.”

In that spirit, the teaser tracks to the record have split the difference between buoyant pop melody and confessional vulnerability, billed as equal parts Olivia Rodrigo and Liz Phair. Jefferies says, These songs have a fundamentally ‘together’ feeling made possible by the collaboration between my band and Sam Cromack (producer and engineer of the album; of Ball Park Music). All songs were recorded live together in one room and the sound of the album shapeshifts from indie pop to piano ballad to psychedelic indie rock to folktronica.”

Today, ahead of the album’s April 12th release, Jeffires is sharing a final new single, “Stranger,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Stranger” finds Jefferies delivering a smoldering, torch-lit ballad, hitting on intimate tones and dramatic highs. The track opens steeped in plaintive keys and understated percussion before later sprawling out into a churning, guitar-laden finale, offering an emotional exorcism disguised as a potent pop ballad. Meanwhile, Jefferies’ vocals ring out stark and vulnerable, with her lyrics exploring feeling trapped and disassociated, within both relationships and her own self: “Darling sometimes I feel like a stranger / In myself, in my body / When you hold me this close / Like a stranger

Of the track, Asha says, “Stranger opens up the album channeling a built up question - how are you to know and share yourself with someone if you’re never being given the space to explore or question it? The song speaks to being lost and trapped inside of a relationship and tackles themes around codependency, identity, voice, and desire for freedom.”

Check out the song below. Ego Ride is out April 12th via Nettwerk.