Australia’s premier indie-rock songstress, Stella Donnelly, completes a three-peat of phenomenal records with the arrival of her newest full-length, ‘Love and Fortune’. Maturing even further with her third album, ‘Love and Fortune’, feels like a coming-together of her already brilliant past works to create a quite beautiful collection of deeply personal and intimate songs.
The grassroots indie pop of ‘Beware of the Dogs’ meets the blissful grandeur of ‘Flood’ here on ‘Love and Fortune’. Stella and her band of collaborators have collided to make the perfect in-between of the two previous releases, an album of wonderfully crafted sounds. This new record is a quiet, intimate space, allowing for dreamy production, ethereal vocals, as well as introspective and quite simply stunning lyricism.
Eased in, though soon sucker-punched by ‘Standing Ovation’, a slow-and-steady two-parter that erupts from a song to cry to to a song to dance to. Opening the album with a goodbye to a friend allows the rest of the record to feel even more deeply personal and reflective.
Short and sweet, track two, ‘Being Nice’, is a wonderful example of the influence Stella’s musical companions have had on her music. Sway and clap along as the mellow lead is caught and carried on by the perfect backing vocal.
The second single of the release run, ‘Feel It Change’, could in fact be the best song Stella Donnelly has ever released. Featuring some of her best songwriting and the catchiest, sing-along chorus since ‘Tricks’, ‘Feel It Change’ is one of the few songs that feels as if it could slot into any of Donnelly’s three records. Timeless, raw and beautifully written, it is Stella at her masterful best.
A staple of Stella’s records is the inclusion of shorter, snappier tracks. As well as the aforementioned ‘Being Nice’, we’re also treated to ‘Baths’ and ‘Friend’. For what they lack in runtime, these two tracks more than make up for with gorgeous lyrical content and heavenly vocals.
A genius when it comes to writing a not-so-obvious love song, the final single, ‘Year of Trouble,’ feels just like one of those. “My belly aches when I hear your name called out in a crowd / When will it change from bad to okay? I look around,” lyrically, is perfectly crafted and crushing. An emotional rollercoaster, the piano-led track all comes together for a powerful ending as Stella repeats she has ‘been on a lonely ride’.
‘Please Everyone’ feels slightly otherworldly. The twinkly instrumental is blissfully soothing, as the lead vocal glides across it with ease. Accompanied by some bird noises for a deeply calming soundscape and a gentle, great track.
I’d certainly struggle to rank my favourites in order for this record, but, gun to my head, ‘W.A.L.K.’ is definitely up there. Stella could sing the phone book, and I’d buy four vinyl variants, but this one is genuinely special. Both the lead and backing vocals intertwine and gel in such a stunning way, the guitar parts sound reminiscent of some niche early 2000s alt-rock ballads that I have probably cried to, and the way the entire “Scarlet Flag” verse is sung is just so satisfyingly performed that it’s become somewhat of a vocal tic for me recently. And that outro. Those drums. The vocals on the outro. Is it too late to take back my choice for best song?
‘Ghosts’ features Stella’s signature warble at perhaps its most comfortable, and the line “You and your mum make ghosts out of the living / I wear the sheet, and keep my body hidden” blows my mind every time. The title track is a classic piano ballad done to perfection. And then we’re played out by the closing track, ‘Laying Low’ – another song that you could probably tap your feet excitedly and dance to in the same way you could absolutely sob buckets to it.
With time, people will look back on this record and think that it is absolutely her best work. ‘Love and Fortune’ is a deeply personal insight into the life of a songwriting master at work. A truly unique, mature and beautiful collection of songs.