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May 10, 2022 By Mark Redfern Photography by Duncan Wright

Australian singer/songwriter Stella Donnelly has announced a new album, Flood, and shared its first single, “Lungs,” via a video. She’s also announced new tour dates in North America, Europe, and the UK. Flood is due out August 26 via Secretly Canadian. Donnelly co-directed the “Lungs” video with Duncan Wright. Watch it below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art, as well as the tour dates.

“I do love observing human dynamics,” Donnelly says, in relation to “Lungs,” the album’s opening track and first single. “Dynamics between old best friends, or dynamics between housemates, or a relationship where the two people are broken up and haven’t spoken in years. I like getting into the mind of someone who we’ve all been at some point.”

Of the video for “Lungs,” Donnelly says: “Very loosely based on the Banded Stilts of my album cover, the character I play in red is a wobbly adult, doing their best with their new set of legs and responsibilities, trying to make it look easy but very much on unsteady ground. I wanted this video to celebrate the child, firm in their footholds, intimidatingly honest, not to be messed with, they are the strength and power of this video no matter how much I try to assert myself as the boss.”

Donnelly’s childhood friends—sisters Billie, Nikki, and Stevie Tanner—choreographed the video. They run the Tanner Dance Academy. “They weaved so much beauty in their choreography and also let the dancers apply their own take to the movements which really shines through in the static shots,” praises Donnelly. “Grace Goodwin, who produced, set-designed and costumed the clip, was integral in creating my stilted character and creating a point of difference between that and my child self.”

Flood is Donnelly’s second album, the follow-up to 2019’s debut full-length album, Beware of the Dogs. Donnelly co-wrote songs with her bandmates Jennifer Aslett, George Foster, Jack Gaby, and Marcel Tussie, and a press release says the process “at times felt like experimental kindergarten play.” Donnelly co-produced Flood alongside Anna Laverty and Methyl Ethyl’s Jake Webb.

The album was partially written during her time in the rainforests of Australia’s Bellingen, where she took up birdwatching. During her time writing new songs she also lived in Fremantle, Williams, Guilderton, Margaret River, and Melbourne and in total she wrote 43 new songs.

“I had so many opportunities to write things in strange places,” Donnelly says. “I often had no choice about where I was. There’s no denying that not being able to access your family with border closures, it zooms in on those parts of your life you care about.”

Read our interview with Stella Donnelly on Beware of the Dogs.

Also read our rave 8.5/10 review of Beware of the Dogs.

Flood Tracklist:

1. Lungs
2. How Was Your Day?
3. Restricted Account
4. Underwater
5. Medals
6. Move Me
7. Flood
8. This Week
9. Oh My My My
10. Morning Silence
11. Cold

Stella Donnelly Tour Dates: Sun. Sept. 11 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah
Mon. Sept. 12 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda
Tue. Sept. 13 - San Francisco, CA @ Independent
Thu. Sept. 15 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Fri. Sept. 16 - Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret
Sat. Sept. 17 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Wed. Sept. 21 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe
Thu. Sept. 22 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
Fri. Sept. 23 - Detroit, MI @ Sanctuary
Sat. Sept. 24 - Toronto, ON @ Longboat Hall
Mon. Sept. 26 - Boston, MA @ Crystal Ballroom
Wed. Sept. 28 - Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
Fri. Sept. 30 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
Sat. Oct. 1 - Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
Tue. Nov. 1 - Leeds, UK @ Wardrobe
Wed. Nov. 2 - Glasgow @ Mono
Thu. Nov. 3 - Manchester @ Band On The Wall
Fri. Nov. 4 - Dublin, IE @ Whelan’s
Sun. Nov. 6 - Liverpool, UK @ Zanzibar
Tue. Nov. 8 Nottingham, UK @ Metronome
Wed. Nov. 9 - Bristol, UK @ Thekla
Thu. Nov. 10 - London, UK @ Electric Brixton
Sat. Nov. 12 - Cardiff, UK @ The Gate
Sun. Nov. 13 - Birmingham, UK @ Hare and Hounds
Mon. Nov. 14 - Brighton, UK @ Komedia
Wed. Nov. 16 - Paris, FR @ FMR
Thu. Nov. 17 - Cologne, DE @ Artheatre
Fri. Nov. 18 - Brussels, BE @ Rotonde - Botanique
Sat. Nov. 19 - Amsterdam, NL @ Bitterzoet
Mon. Nov. 21 - Hamburg, DE @ Molotow Skybar
Tue. Nov. 22 - Copenhagen, DK @ Hotel Cecil
Thu. Nov. 24 - Berlin, DE @ Badehaus
Fri. Nov. 25 - Munich, DE @ Strom w/ Julia Jacklin

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