Fatshaudi is an artist based in Brisbane – and also a pianist, composer and 4ZZZ radio host, among other things.
As this week’s Independent Artist of the Week, she joined John on Saturday Lunch to chat about her most recent Sydney show, gaining confidence in singing and composing, and her upcoming debut album.
The latest Fatshaudi release was ‘Slow Motion,’ mixed and mastered by Theo, otherwise known as Lovefear (also a recent fbi.radio Independent Artist of the Week). Outside of releasing music, Fatshaudi has been featured on a few notable lineups: opening for acts such as Eartheater and Gabber Modus Operandi, and playing in the stacked band that supported jonatanleandoer96 at the monumental show presented by 3NDLES5 earlier this year. Most recently, Fatshaudi featured at Mom Publishing’s showcase at Oxford Art Factory, alongside other acts including EXEK, Spike Fuck, Tongue Dissolver, Daily Toll, gaining momentum for her performances.
“I feel really grateful. I think that this year has been a really good one for me. I've been back and forth from Sydney. I think this is my fourth trip here and I've been back and forth to Melbourne a couple times.”
Her single ‘Slow Motion’ was a version of a track by Perth artist Mike Midnight, the original titled ‘Smiling in Slow Motion’. Dipping between pop and breaks, loops of guitar and shoegaze drums, Fatshaudi flutters between sound seamlessly, tied together through a beautiful melody. As for her secret to a delicate vocal line, she takes inspiration from Erika De Casier.
“I love that little touch of autotune, … almost like breathing into the mic and like such a soft, subtle way of singing.”
She adds how she never would have called herself a singer in the past. Autotune became a necessary process of confidence building to get the ball rolling.
“I guess maybe the breathiness is accidental and comes from a lack of any sort of vocal training or like skill.” She laughs.
Outside of her talents as an artist, Rachael has made strides as a composer, producing work for CFCL’s show at Paris Fashion Week, Vans, Museum of Contemporary Art and more. However, in particular for CFCL, she notes the difference in writing music independently and the process working with another person’s vision – different constraints and new obstacles.
“[CFCL’s] creative director for the show reached out to me and he had a whole brief and a whole vision and a bunch of references and was like, ‘you know, I really like your music, but I also, this is what I have in mind for the show and that wasn't something that I had experience doing’.”
The process for Vans was far smoother.
Collaboration seems to be a familiar and constructive setting for Rachael, also producing work for friends a little closer to home. She created work for Imitation Therapy for a live artwork showing at her hometown, Toowoomba, honing her skills in responding and improvising.
Fatshaudi also shares that she’s just finished recording her debut album. It now waits on her Google Drive. A collaborative release with partner Luca Rain is also in the works.
Words by Rhea Thomas