“A mercurial talent... Listening to the album is a full-bodied experience: theatrical and intimate, operatic and haunting, raw and urgent, at once dark and contemplative and inspiring. It’s pop music with a difference.” – Ashleigh Wilson, Arts Editor at The Australian

“Engaging and eclectic, Jessica O’Donoghue charges through unchartered waters on Emerge…Revelling in her raw and righteous vocal power, Jessica O’Donoghue dances above an alternative pop backdrop with the ease of a true artisan.” – HappyMag

Jessica O’Donoghue is one of Australia’s most distinctive, provocative and versatile vocalists. In 2021 she received the top performance award in the APRA/AMCOS AMC Art Music Awards and in 2018 she was the recipient of an Australian Institute of Music Fellowship for her “outstanding contributions” to the nation’s music industry.

She harnessed a prestigious classical training that included Sydney University, Victorian College of the Arts and London’s Covent Garden into an extensive and eclectic musical career that spans opera, medieval music, pop, jazz and cabaret.
In an attempt to define her unique sound, she has adopted the term “Post-Baroque Dramatic Pop”, a phrase that goes some of the way to capturing the larger-than-life nature of her operatic experience transferred to a pop context.

A long-term advocate for the democratisation of music, she is committed to engaging with audiences by creating bold, sonic experiences like no other. Jessica is also passionate about telling women’s stories and improving the gender balance in music. She advocates for stories that celebrate vulnerability and caring for others in place of the competitiveness that defines so much of our world today.

While training and performing in the classical world, Jessica worked extensively in pop performing regularly as the lead vocalist with the highly acclaimed pop group CODA (ARIA nominees) who have featured at The Sydney Opera House, Woodford Folk Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival, the Adelaide International Arts Festival, the Bangkok International Festival of Music and Dance and Vivid Sydney.

Jessica freelances regularly for various events, projects and festivals including guest performances at Carols in the Domain, singing the UK National Anthem at the SCG for the Ashes Cricket Series and featuring at major festivals both in Australia and internationally including Vivid Sydney, Sydney Festival, Dark Mofo, Melbourne International Arts Festival and more. Jessica featured as part of the Sydney Opera House digital season in 2020 as well as recording a solo performance for Phoenix Central Park as part of their ‘Behind Doors’ series.

Art As Catharsis is proud to release Jessica O’Donoghue’s new record, Rise Up – an elegant record of emotive and mysterious art-pop compositions.

Combining industrial electronics, rich vocal harmonies, warm synths and operatic influences, Rise Up is without a doubt O’Donoghue’s most ambitious release to date. With production from Alyx Dennison (of Kyü) and engineer David Trumpanis (Sarah Blasko, Seeker Lover Keeper, The Voice), O’Donoghue continues to haunt audiences and critics alike – putting her as a pioneer of her own brand of post-baroque dramatic pop.

“This album is really about a woman’s journey,” begins O’Donoghue. “It goes from hopes, dreams and promises to dark times, challenges, sacrifices and doubting/questioning to acceptance, nurturing and healing, to celebrating and honouring the feminine story and experience. It is a journey of drawing from darkness to drawing from light, a letting go and a rising up that brings with it immense depth and knowledge from past experiences. It is about honouring and celebrating all that the woman is and represents; softness, beauty, fierce power and the ability to hold and nurture the world and everyone in it. It is deep and mysterious, yet illuminous and uplifting.”

Opening with hammering drums and deep synth, Rise Up takes lyricism from the traditional Greek song Dance of Zalongo and fuses it with O’Donoghue’s multitude of talents. Rich vocal ranges and anthemic composition helps to tell a chilling tale of mass suicide by the women of Souli after their capture at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. All the while, the song’s elements meet in a delicate balance between empowerment and grief.

“While ‘Dance of Zalongu’ is a pretty morbid story,” begins O’Donoghue, “My song Rise Up is meant to celebrate the strength of not only the women of Souli, but all women (and people who have been suppressed over time) who have made sacrifices over the centuries to fight for freedom. It serves as a voice as well as to make a call to action to continue the movement against oppression for future generations. It is a powerful anthem which holds light and dark, strength and vulnerability, acceptance of the past while using that knowledge and experience to fuel a future awakening.

Serene in some moments, relentless in others – Rise Up crafts a strange beauty through otherworldly composition. O’Donoghue’s use of languages, vocalisations and vocal production allows her to create microcosms of emotion – all the while telling women’s stories and celebrating femininity through her music.

As a recipient of the Top Performance Award at 2021’s APRA/AMCOS AMC Art Music Awards and an Australian Institute of Music Fellowship, O’Donoghue’s undeniable talent is only reinforced by her prestige, all of which culminates in the rich musicianship on display in Rise Up. Here marks the next big step in O’Donoghue’s unstoppable career – a truly outstanding piece of Australian music.