Images by Tom Wilkinson //
Connect it to my veins.
We’ve had our eyes and ears on Sydney quintet Dead Witch for a while now… The group’s self-titled debut EP, which dropped in 2022, shows a band that can do everything you need them to do: hypnotise with dreamy melodies, ride Black Angels-esque grooves till the cows come home, and attack your ears with wailing, gritty guitar solos. It’s good old fashioned rock and roll, with a splash of psych, and maybe a few drops of Dolly Parton in there.
Their new tune ‘Sunshine’ feels like the it belongs at the climax of Tarantino western – the part where you realise that everyone is about the get fucked up by the anti-hero. Kicking off with some thumping on the toms, the song quickly slinks into its swagger with duelling guitars cruising under lead singer Jaimee Taylor-Nielsen’s smooth crooning.
“‘Sunshine’ is about what it feels like when you finally start letting the good stuff in after a long time in the dark,” she says. “I’d been through a big heartbreak and tucked myself away, working through it, and ‘Sunshine’ is about the early days of new love where everything feels golden. I’d been strumming an acoustic version of this song for ages and the girls ran with it and turned it into this unreal melodic surf-inspired jam, it’s definitely one of our favourites to play live.”
Around the halfway mark we hear vocals and guitars interweaving, creating this rich collage of sonic chaos which peaks right before things get dropped down for the breakdown. As for said breakdown, well, it’s probably best you just listen to it yourself:
Dead Witch will be launching ‘Sunshine’ in Melbourne on Friday Feb 2nd at Lulie Street Tavern with Super American Eagle, and in Sydney at a secret Warehouse with GIMMY (tickets and info here). There’s no doubt that as good as ‘Sunshine’ is through the your speakers, it’s going to the next level in live format – don’t sleep on these shows! Follow Dead Witch on IG here.
