Airling Shares New Single ‘Better When You Groove’
This is the second new single from Airling, following last year’s ‘Mona Lisa’.
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Australian singer-songwriter Airling’s comeback continues to gain momentum with the release of her new single, ‘Better When You Groove’. The second track taken from her forthcoming EP Retrieve, due Friday 6 March via Pieater (pre-save here), serves as Airling’s “love/hate letter to music.”
“It takes so much bravery to put yourself and your creativity into the light and give it to others,” she adds. “Writing this song helped me forget about the things that make me ache. I focused on the way that my hands wanted to move and the love that was flying out of my mouth. Even on the days when I’m conflicted... music is still my everything, music is feeling alive.”
‘Better When You Groove’ follows last year’s ‘Mona Lisa’, the first new song from Airling, aka Hannah Shepherd, in eight years. After releasing her debut album Hard To Sleep, Easy To Dream in 2017, Shepherd found a new calling as a nurse. The time away from music enabled her to reflect on the industry and rediscover her joy for making music, leading to her upcoming EP Retrieve.
The EP was recorded at Airling’s home in Brisbane, 4000 Studios and BellBird Studio with her long-time collaborators Tom Iansek (#1 Dads, Big Scary) and Graham Ritchie (Holy Holy, Scenes), who were both behind her debut EP Love Gracefully and LP Hard to Sleep, Easy to Dream.
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Announcing herself with the release of her Love Gracefull EP in 2014, which featured triple j favourite ‘Wasted Pilots’, Airling followed up three years later with her acclaimed debut album, Hard to Sleep, Easy to Dream.
Named Feature Album on triple j, Airling soon found herself collaborating with Emma Louise, Japanese Wallpaper, Xavier Dunn, LANKS and Christopher Port, as well as supporting Vance Joy, AURORA, Asgeir, James Vincent McMorrow and more.
Although she decided to pursue a career away from music after her initial success, Airling’s return is one fans have been looking forward to for years, with Retrieve one of the most anticipated projects of 2026.
‘Better When You Groove’ by Airling is out now. Listen here. Retrieve arrives Friday 6 March via Pieater. Pre-save here.
