ENOLA Shares New Single ‘Looking Back’ and Announces Debut EP ‘All Is Forgiven’
Enola | Photo credit: Ian Laidlaw
Praise for ENOLA:
“I think that probably is the best of the post-punk records to reach us from Australia in a while" - Steve Lamacq, BBC Radio 6
"ENOLA is a lit fuse with potential for the most incredible fireworks." - So Young Magazine
"For a song that sounds like it'd eat your face given the chance all that agitated energy still feels like a breath of life" - Dave Ruby Howe, triple j
"It's a very pop form of murky drive and I mean that as a massive, massive compliment, this is catchy as fuck." - Ned Raggett
ENOLA, the moniker for Naarm/Melbourne-based post-punk solo artist Ruby Marshall (they/them), is thrilled to announce their debut EP All Is Forgiven out 3rd November, and shares new single ‘Looking Back’ together with a music video directed by Oscar O'Shea.
Opening with running bass underpinning a melancholic hook, ‘Looking Back’ quickly moves to leverage shimmering guitars and masterful use of drums to communicate an urgent plea - “Stop wasting what you don’t have”. It’s a track about taking advantage of time, our most finite resource on an individual level, and the importance of showing ourselves a bit of compassion if we make mistakes in the process.
On the single, ENOLA shares “This song, to me, speaks of the need to be gentle on yourself, forgive yourself, forgive everyone and let go. You do not need to suffer or come close to your own mortality to truly appreciate the moment in front of you, life is too fleeting to hold onto so much guilt and shame, and things that no longer serve you.”
Watch / Listen to ‘Looking Back’ here
Also featuring ‘Metal Body’ and ‘Strange Comfort’ - their first two singles that have seen praise from all corners including BBC Radio 1, KEXP, TIDAL Rising, Sleaford Mods, and earned ENOLA a spot on the global NME100 among many others accolades.
The balance of a gnarled world-weariness with compassion evident on ‘Looking Back’ is echoed across the six tracks on All Is Forgiven. ENOLA’s hardened exterior that we hear in their songs, their voice, and see in their stage presence was forged during an incredibly tumultuous adolescence, coarsening after they left home at a young age where they faced years of uncertainty and instability. The juxtaposing softness is something that grew slowly over time; a flower blooming through split concrete. And now, the softness is the point. A hand reaching out, a heart determined to remain compassionate despite it all.
Taking inspiration from the upfront poetry of Patti Smith, the melancholic atmospherics of Joy Division and the snarling conviction of IDLES, ENOLA brings these influences into their full-band sound matched by their background in electronic music production. They teamed up with producer Bonnie Knight (Amyl and the Sniffers, Angie McMahon, Platonic Sex) to record All Is Forgiven at Naarm/Melbourne’s Soundpark Studios, and together with their band - Maya Alexandra (bass), Joshua Prendergast (guitar) and James Tyrell (drums) - were razor-focused on preserving the cathartic and intense energy of their live shows that have left a trail of fans in their wake: “To understand it, you gotta see it live,” Marshall insists.
ENOLA launched into Naarm/Melbourne's music scene with their self-titled EP performing as Enola Gay in 2019, released via local champions of the underground Burning Rose. Across ENOLA’s recent singles ‘Strange Comfort’ and ‘Metal Body’ they’ve seen immense support internationally from BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6, Triple R, FBi Radio, Double J, TIDAL, NME, So Young Magazine, Pilerats, Demure, When The Horn Blows and more. Live, ENOLA is an enigmatic and captivating performer, holding their audiences close, and in 2023 alone have been hand-selected to support Sleaford Mods, Jen Cloher, RVG, Cash Savage and the Last Drinks, performed at Dark Mofo, RISING, Brunswick Music Festival and OK Motels among others. All that said, what drives ENOLA at their core, beyond reaching any particular sound, is their desire to reach people, “What moves me the most is a willingness to be vulnerable, and whatever you’re saying, for it to be really sincere.”
All Is Forgiven
out 3rd November via Hell Beach/ONELOVE
Pre-save here
SXSW SYDNEY SHOWCASES
Friday 20 October @ 5:00PM - Rolling Stone - Powerhouse Museum Courtyard
Saturday 21 October @ 8:20PM - Dr Martens Presents… - The Chippo Hotel
TOUR DATES
Saturday 11 November - Luliepalooza - Naarm/Melbourne
15-18 May 2024 - The Great Escape - Brighton, UK
All Is Forgiven
out 3rd November via Hell Beach/ONELOVE
Tracklisting
1. Strange Comfort
2. Looking Back
3. Hurt
4. Miss You
5. Metal Body
6. Waves
About ENOLA:
ENOLA’s debut EP All Is Forgiven begins, on opening track “Strange Comfort”, with their vocals set against a haunting synth. It sounds like the wind whipping on a cold, bleak night, a bleary traffic light glow guiding you as you wander. The first thing you’ll notice in those vocals is the bite. There’s toughness in these songs, a gnarled world-weariness. But there’s softness too. In fact, the softness is the point. A hand reaching out; a heart remaining compassionate despite it all. “There’s a strange comfort in going through the same / You’re not the only one,” they repeat on that opening track.
ENOLA is the solo project of Melbourne-via-Sydney artist Ruby Marshall. Initially an electronic producer and DJ, with ENOLA they take charge of a full-band sound. They take inspiration from the upfront poetry of Patti Smith, the melancholic atmospherics of Joy Division and the snarling conviction of IDLES. But always driving them at their core, beyond any sonics, is the desire to reach people. “What moves me the most is a willingness to be vulnerable, and whatever you’re saying, for it to be really sincere,” they say. “I deeply wanna connect with others and I wanna contribute, and I hope that maybe I could write something that resonates with someone else. That would feel really meaningful. It gives my life meaning to me, anyway.”
Marshall grew up in Byron and Sydney. Their mother was a pianist, their earliest memories being falling asleep listening to her practice. “I had a bit of an unusual upbringing; we had a lot of creatives coming through the house,” they remember. From the age of 4, they had a guitar in their hand, but they were always too shy to sing or perform.
They quit playing music during a tumultuous adolescence and early adulthood, in which they left home young and struggled with intense personal issues. In their 20s, once on more stable ground, they ended up working in radio and events. Eventually, they realised that they were seeking proximity to art that they really wanted to be making themself. “I think I was just hiding; I wanted to be around it, but didn’t have the confidence of doing it myself,” they say. So they enrolled in the Australian Institute of Music, where they began making dance tracks and DJing.
ENOLA grew from this, when Marshall decided to add backing musicians to their live show. From here, they began writing more band-focused music, and solidified the lineup of Maya Alexandra (bass), Joshua Prendergast (guitar) and James Tyrell (drums). The songs on All Is Forgiven come from the transition of allowing collaboration and a broader set of influences into their work, while still taking inspiration from the world of electronic music. “I feel like I’m really interested in getting the recordings and then kind of fucking with them — like getting drums and really distorting them, or getting a guitar to sound like a synth and a synth like a guitar,” they say. “Even when I’m writing, I always write a breakdown instead of a bridge, and I approach the structure of songwriting more like I would be producing an electronic track.”
In April 2023, they and their band hit Soundpark Studios in Melbourne with producer Bonnie Knight. Four out of the six tracks on All Is Forgiven are older ones, reshaped and perfected over the course of two years and across Covid lockdowns, while “Looking Back” and “Miss You” are new cuts. The band were focused on maintaining the energy of their live show, a cathartic and intense experience: “To understand it, you gotta see it live,” Marshall insists.
“Strange Comfort” began as an electronic track, and elements of that remain in the tightly chopped drums and glitchy backing vocals, while the reverby lead guitar and looming bass give it an antsy new-wave feeling. It’s a track that recounts their adolescent years living in the shadow of Sydney’s ‘Suicide Towers’ housing estate, reflecting on their life’s darkest moments while clinging to an undertone of hope.
“Looking Back” uses its shimmering guitars and huge drum sound to create an urgent plea: “Stop wasting what you don’t have.” ““Looking Back” was the first song that I said something really direct. I wanted it to be heard and I wanted people to listen,” says Marshall. “I’ve found myself often in a place where I’m torturing myself over past mistakes or anxieties about choices I’ve made. Life is so fleeting and so finite and so precious, and I don’t wanna waste another second wasting the most precious thing of all which is time.”
Elsewhere, “Hurt” and “Miss You” draw on similar themes of remaining open to true, vulnerable, human love. The latter is a Mazzy Star-esque slowdown, featuring Marshall showing off a softer croon, while the former sounds like the end credits soundtrack of a David Lynch movie. Of “Hurt,” Marshall explains, “I wanna be someone that remains open, no matter what happens. I wanna keep showing up in love for the rest of my life. There’s nothing wrong with getting your heart broken! Go get your heart broken, it’s important. It’ll change you. So I commend all the people that keep rocking up for love.”
The final two tracks are the EP’s most visceral. We can hear Marshall’s appreciation for Nirvana in the crushing guitars that open “Metal Body.” It’s a raw exploration of childhood helplessness and isolation. Meanwhile, closing track “Waves” is an indictment of the politicians and systems that allow for vulnerable people to fall through the cracks. Furious, Marshall snarls: “There goes another one, hey / We failed another one, hey.”
Across all of these tracks, what doesn’t change is Marshall’s determination to wrestle with their longest-held pain, anxiety and wounds. They don’t take for granted that ENOLA can be a vehicle for this; it’s taken their whole life to build the confidence to get here. “I think I’m most proud that for the most part, I’m willing to be vulnerable,” they say. “Because I really want it to mean something, and I’m not afraid to say that I care. I think that’s something that I’m constantly trying to push myself to do; to not cower, to just be honest and say it. Just leave it all on the table.”
