Locals Only: effie isobel

You recently toured your debut EP, Libra Rising. How does it feel to see the audience connecting with something you put so much love and work into?

It's maybe the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It's so beautiful. It's such a process, working on any artistic work, but a body of work in particular. I've really felt the ups are so high, and the lows are so low. To finally have something tangible at the end of it and then to have people actually resonate with it, there’s just no better feeling to me.

As your first EP release, did it feel different to play a whole body of work, rather than just the singles and the unreleased?

This was my first tour, so I had never even played any headline shows outside Adelaide before. Particularly, the Melbourne show was just incredibly special, to be able to connect with new people. I think it does feel different to a single release because you put so much more into it. Rather than just one little snippet, it’s a whole world.

Your songs have a strong lyrical focus. Why do you think it’s important for artists to have that personal connection to their music?

I just don’t really know what music is without it being personal. I feel like, in a world of people using computers to make art, now more than ever, it’s incredibly important for people to be deeply connected, deeply invested in their music and in their craft and in the personal stories that they are telling. And that’s what makes art art. It’s the humanity of it.

You've supported heaps of Adelaide favourites, including aleksiah, Teenage Joans, and an upcoming run with The Tullamarines. How have they helped you find your place in the local scene?

Just massively. I think I've been incredibly fortunate to be platformed by other amazing South Australian artists. It feels so generous to be invited to support such beautiful artists and have such a beautiful opportunity to play in front of their fans as well. The Adelaide community is so beautiful, so loving, uplifting and very, very supportive of one another, so I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of it.

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A lot of your fan base is made up of young girls. What does it mean for you to be a role model for that demographic?

It's probably been the biggest joy of my career, having this beautiful community of young girls coming together. I truly believe that young women are a pillar and a backbone to the Australian music industry.

They are incredibly giving with their energy; so generous, so present, and also just incredibly kind human beings. I feel really grateful to have the opportunity to be somewhat of a role model to these people.

Ethics are at the centre of everything I do. I want everything to feel motivated by the right reasons. If there’s an opportunity for me to model kindness and compassion and self-love, I think that is just a beautiful thing.

Do you have anything fun coming up that you want to soft-launch? What does 2027 look like?

I'm in the writing world at the moment. I'm writing songs and putting little bits together and starting to string together my next releases, which I'm so excited for. I don't feel like I have enough concrete information to share that yet, but I cannot wait to do it again.

It was such an intense, beautiful process. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to just start fresh with all of this new information that I now have. Besides that, I’m heading on tour with The Tullamarines in November. And yeah, really excited for 2027.

Now that you’ve put out the first EP, is there anything that you’re going to try to do differently in your next work?

I feel like my writing style has probably changed a lot, and my sound is evolving and becoming more like where I want it to be. I'm also excited to work with new people and start to make some new connections. I’m still going to work with my Adelaide favourites, of course, but just being able to reach out since my world has opened up a little bit across Australia.

I'm also excited to make a body of work that feels really intentional from A to B. In a lot of ways, with Libra Rising, I was still working it all out. That is kind of the beauty of it; that’s why I love it. But I do think I am excited just to know what I’m doing a little bit more

Libra Rising is out now. Listen here. Keep up to date with all things effie isobel @effie.isobel.