Words by Claudia Schmidt //
Ex-Preatures singer and national treasure Isabella Manfredi has released her long-awaited debut solo LP izzi, just over a year after stepping out on her own.
The record saw Manfredi working with cult US producer Jonathan Wilson (Father John Misty, Angel Olson) for six tracks, recording out of Wilson’s Fivestar Studio in Topanga, California with the help of multi-instrumentalists Jeffertitti Moon and Drew Erickson.
This experience brought a vital energy to the album, drawing on Manfredi’s love for Americana and Laurel Canyon. Of course, not one to abandon her roots, the album was mixed back in Manfredi’s hometown of Sydney with Tony Buchen (producer of The Preatures’ first EP Shaking Hands) and Eric J Dubowsky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrLaD4Qh35Q&ab_channel=IsabellaManfredi
“My directive to Jon was that I wanted it to sound like Bruce Springsteen was in an all-girl-group in the early 2000s. Atomic Kitten meets Tom Petty. TLC remixes Tapestry. Prince producing Bonnie Raitt,” Manfredi said of the album. “He loved getting deep into the references. But mostly he is all about the song. And you can tell he loved the songs.”
The record is soaked in sonic references, a love letter to many of Manfredi’s favourites – from the Joni Mitchell-esque ‘Portrait’ and ‘Tonight’s Flight’ to ‘Sleepwalking,’ which is no doubt a nod to Fleetwood Mac’s ubiquitous 1977 hit ‘Dreams’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGyn7L5KUoQ&ab_channel=IsabellaManfrediVEVO
But the real power of izzi lies in its deep emotional well, which always lingers just below its surface. After ten years in the spotlight, it isn’t hard to trace the context behind many of Manfredi’s lyrics.
From ‘Living In The Wild,’ a salute to friends in the music industry (“That’s all we know, it’s the life we chose playing every other weekend / Never any money but we look good for it, always end up living in the wind”) – to the sentimental ‘Birthday Wish’ (“When I was little, I waited for the one… / Don’t wanna tell anyone, in case it doesn’t come true / So I blow the candles out and make a wish”), the album manages the delicate task of being both intimate and triumphant all at once.
With izzi, Manfredi proves that she can well and truly do it on her own. Catch her performing at Wanderer Festival (Sept 24th) and Queenscliff Music Festival (Nov 25th) and check out izzi here.
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