Cheersquad Records & Tapes are thrilled to announce the release of the debut album ‘New Moult’ from Queenie, the trash queen alter-ego of Melbourne musician Eloise Thetford.

Out on August 30, 2024, ‘New Moult’ is available for pre-order on limited edition (100 only) translucent orange 12” vinyl, beautiful black 12” vinyl and digitally.

Slaying her way as a fearless performer who wears her heart on her sleeve. Queenie’s live shows shake, shudder and smoulder with fiery charisma and freewheeling stagecraft whether she’s performing solo or with her band, a rogues gallery of Melbourne’s finest musicians.  ‘New Moult’ captures her energy and delivers beautifully crafted songs direct to the listener.

Two indie singles over the last few years, coupled with dozens of shows across Australia, Queenie is stealing hearts and taking names. Highlights include performances at a slew of festival appearances (Dashville Skyline, Party in the Paddock, Boogie 2023) and an invitation to perform at the 2023 APRA Music Awards.

Hear it from Queenie herself:

“I feel as though this record is a representation of my rebirth into writing, solo especially. I’d taken a break from my solo stuff for a few years after my last project dwindled and faded into dust. We were heading (unbeknownst to me) into virtually a year of lockdowns and for the first time since I was about 13, I had unlimited time on my hands. I’d just split up with the love of my life after 10 years and was incredibly displaced. I’d been set adrift in the universe for the first time in my adult life. The last few years had been spent writing swampy, raucous rock n roll songs in a band together so my folky/storyteller/Tom-Waits-try-hard persona had taken a backseat. I decided after an especially long session of wailing and wallowing that I should pick up my tiny acoustic guitar and at least try to make use of the sudden abundance of inspiration bubbling away in my head.

 

I’d never experienced the heartache of a breakup before and my god did the floodgates open. By the second week of lockdown I think I’d written 5 or 6 new songs. I’d always quite purposefully written with magical, strange or cinematic visuals in mind so this was the first time lyrically I’d really expressed myself on a more intimate level. It felt good. It felt cathartic. It may be cliché but I look back and realise writing truly did carry me through an incredibly difficult time in my life. I was away from my family; my little island home was shut off to Victoria. I couldn’t process things through the usual unhealthy channels of drinking and partying, so I really did just have to sit with my emotions and take each day as it came. I’ve always been incredibly emotional; I’d learnt by the age of 5 what an unforgiving and violent place the world can be, and very often surviving was the priority. I think in some ways, coming into my 26th year of being; it was the first time I’d had the freedom to properly experience my emotions instead of suffering quietly and secretly.

 

Fast forward 4 years and my little collection of heartbreak songs is finished. I’ve loved and lost in that time again and although the circumstances were different (yet oddly similar in some ways) the songs I’ve written since all carry that same thread.

 

On a sonic level I wanted them to sound nostalgic – with a sense of longing. A sprinkling of the 80’s; like perhaps you’d already heard them. Heartbreak is something human beings the world over can relate to and I think that familiarity is what has come to fruition throughout these recordings. I never really write with a purpose or an idea, it kind of all falls out at once and I tend to find or recognise meaning in the lyrics later down the track. Even the album title was a subconscious pick I think. I went through a phase of being deeply obsessed with spiders (amongst a million other short lived fascinations throughout 2020) and was researching some spiders’ ability to moult and regrow missing limbs if it was early enough in their life cycle. After reading an article I saw the words ‘new moult’ at the top of the page and thought ooh that’s cool I’ll pop that in my iPhone note for ‘random combinations of words I like that I may or may not possibly use for song titles or other things at some point’. Later on I realised how apt that name truly was, considering I’d metaphorically shed my skin and regrown parts of my identity slowly but surely. Nothing else has quite captured what these songs represent for me so I suppose I’ll stick with ‘New Moult’.”