Interview: Getting to know Tilly VW
Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Tilly VW has recently dropped her debut single, ‘Young Lovers Do’. We asked her to tell us about herself:
I am… currently on the train into the Melbourne city, listening to Kali Uchis’ new album which is the perfect soundtrack to this hot November day in Melbourne. I’m excited to people-watch at Flinders Street Station while I wait for the tram – it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the city abuzz since the lockdown.
Young Lovers Do is… a safe space for the army of idiots in love to gather and laugh at themselves. This song, the way the production has ended up really does feel like an ode to my young years. It’s the feeling of driving home, in the backseat of the car, after a summer that seemed eternal, and the feeling that you really are leaving something behind……….
Home is… a societal construct: we are trapped in these little blocks of land and assign them with the emotions that is really just attachment by habit. How weird that we exist side by side other humans leading intricate lives that we share only a postcode with. Your soulmate could be living one street away, hitting the same potholes everyday and greeting the same postman, but you would never cross paths.
I spend too much time… listening to Jeff Buckley’s album Grace it’s actually become an unhealthy emotional dependency. It’s been 4 years of obsession, when will it end?!!!
I’ve never… been to South Australia but as soon as the borders open I want to drive to Adelaide and meet one of my favourite Australian authors, Nan Witcomb (the Thoughts of Nanushka), who occasionally speaks at events like fundraisers.
2020 has been… freaky, an example of the millions of alternate realities life can take from altering the fabric of time (don’t time travel, kids!). Lockdown certainly hasn’t been healthy for the soul. Emerging from the second wave, I feel like we’re a city of newborn giraffes that are shaky and awkward on their feet, like we’re getting used to our new skin. There’s been a lot of “hey, how are you? I’m Good, how are you? Good, how are you?” 😬.
Preparing for this release couldn’t have come at a better time. It became an escape, a welcome distraction from the monotony of isolation. Steph Reid, the photographer (and very close friend) who worked with me on the visuals and music video for YLD – her & I threw ourselves into it, creating our own little microcosm.
It might surprise people to learn that… before an interest in music, I was almost swayed by the glamorous career of acting. My proudest moment is my cameo in Kath and Kim from 2004 (Season 4 Episode 6, 12 minutes 45 seconds) where I walk past the camera with pure grace.
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Keep up to date with Tilly VW on Insta.
Interview by Bobby Townsend.
