Brisbane local, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Interstellar Tay has released her emotive new single Garden Song, a memorable, heartfelt record about the grief felt by the death of a loved one, out now.
Garden Song is comforting and sweet, with acoustic guitars gently cushioning the layers of vocal harmony and textural percussion. Tay explains, “Garden Song is about the night my grandfather died. I’m not a particularly spiritual person, but we were very close. At 11 pm that night I had a dream about somebody stomping on piano keys which woke me up. In the morning I called my grandmother and she told me that he had passed away at 11 pm that night. I didn’t think too much of it at the time. However, after his funeral, we were all having a chat about the night he died. Both my uncle and grandmother told us that they were also woken up at 11 pm.
So the song is about how jarring losing the connection of a loved one can be.”
But don’t be misled, this exquisite song is upbeat and authentic, a celebration of life and the connection the two shared, with the melancholy of loss intertwined within the joy.
The video for Garden Song is reflective of the meaning behind the track, with Brazilian animator Patricki Lucas interpreting the story of grief through his artwork.
Tay describes the process, “Patricki’s storyboard idea was to have a mage and a student. The mage guides the student throughout the film clip. In the end, the student is alone but carries the mage’s teachings. A little more left of field than I was originally imagining! However, I feel that it captures the transfer of my grandfather’s love and knowledge to me, without the heaviness of clearly spelling the literal meaning of the song lyrics.” However, an asthma sufferer, Patricki was awfully struck down by Covid19 last week and still remains in hospital in ICU, so there is an understandable delay on the delivery of the video.
A Conservatorium-trained bassist, Tay grew up in a musical household with several generations of her family working as professional musicians. This early influence shaped her work ethic and musical taste throughout the years, as she says, “For me, music was sort of more of a given rather than a choice. There have been a few occasions where I’ve walked away from music, but ultimately there are emotions and stories that I can only seem to voice through playing and writing.”
With her new release EP coming out on September 1, Interstellar Tay is fast making a name for herself and winning over fans with her honest, biographical blues folk songs.
Interstellar Tay is Tay Zastrow.
Garden Song is out now.
