Meet Vera Blue, the new project from one of Australia’s most promising talents. Cutting her teeth as a folk artist in the small town of Forbes and adopted home of Sydney, Vera Blue found her feet first as a singer and then an acoustic guitarist. Now, she’s found her sound, mixing the music she’s long loved with lush, sultry electronica. The results are sometimes gentle, sometimes ferocious and always show-stopping, with her commanding vocals front and centre. It’s an evolution that feels like coming home. “I’ve always wanted to create something that’s a blend of folk and cool, heavy, thick sounds,” she says. “This is the music I have been wanting to make and I feel like I’m unleashing.” The debut single from Vera Blue is Hold, the bewitching first taste of a five-track EP. “This song is about finding someone who pulls you out of a dark place,” she explains. “It’s about when you’ve opened your heart so many times to people and you finally find that person who is there to protect you, to look after you, even when you’ve hurt them and they’ve hurt you. You never give up on them.” Written together with veteran producers Andy and Tom Mac and Melbourne songstress Gossling, Hold matches acoustic guitar with piano, production and Vera Blue’s candid songwriting. “I’m at the age where I’m writing about what’s happening to me, the things that I’ve been through, the people that surround me and everything in my life,” she says. “I can’t make things up, it has to be honest.” The result is real, raw and powerful, with the purity of folk music and the punch of a bassline. Take a listen and step into the world of Vera Blue. A new project by Celia Pavey.