EP Walkthru: Yorke - ten feet tall

Naarm/Melbourne based singer-songwriter Yorke creates a shimmering brand of bright pop sounds which has seen her share stages with the likes of Peach PRC, Ruel, San Cisco, Amy Shark and Ball Park Music while also selling-out headline tour and festivals appearances such as For The Love Festival. Releasing her debut LP Liberois in 2020, she unveils her latest collection of work today, a new extended play titled ten feet tall. 

Working alongside producer Jim Alxndr, ten feet tall is a collection of 5 well polished pop tracks that vary from invigorating and euphoric, to thoughtful slow-burn ballads. Written about love, heartbreak, and personal growth, Yorke invites us into her sparkling world, timestamping her evolution personally throughout her lyrics, as well as musically with the EP’s supercharged pop sound. 

As ten feet tall enters the world today, we asked Yorke to give us a breakdown of what went into the making of it track by track. So be sure to hit play on the sparkling new EP, as you take a read of what she had to say below. 

My new EP ‘ten feet tall’ is a culmination of growth, experimenting with sounds and whilst not being made directly in lockdown, is definitely a product of the pandemic. I guess you had a lot more time to dwell on minute moments and feelings when you were confined to the 4 walls of your house. I’d also just moved states and went straight into a lockdown, so there was a lot to work through. 

I first wrote ‘next life’ in Jan 2021, and I knew straight away I wanted to make a body of work with James (Jim Alxndr). His approach to songwriting brought something out in my own that was unmatched to anyone I’d worked with before, where I could be completely vulnerable but also challenged. I think he’s the most incredible producer/writer. And when we weren’t writing, we’d be baking - some excellent banana bread was made during this EP too. 

James and I threw everything at these tracks and had the best time during the process. I couldn’t be more proud of this body of work, a slight deviation from the end goal but a time capsule of a very difficult period in my life (as it was for everyone). I believe these are some of the best songs I’ve written and I hope you can fall in love with them too. ‘ten feet tall’ tells the story of losing yourself and then starting to put the pieces back together. The car (aka Life) doesn’t stop, you just have to keep driving. 

like in the movies

This track is the only one I didn’t completely write with James but was written very close to ‘next life’ in Jan ‘21. I had to do 14 days isolation and Oscar Sharah and I wrote this song over Zoom during that period. It’s a track about realising you can’t always control the narrative. It was very early days Covid and I had nothing better to think about than to hyper-fixate on fake scenarios in my head where an outcome had worked in my favour - like it does in the movies. James and I reworked it recently and got it over the line. Stoked to get to work with 2 amazing writers on this one!

next life

‘next life’ was the first song written for the EP and walks through the 5 stages of grief of losing someone who is very much still alive, and everywhere. It goes from ‘denial’ to the final stage of ‘acceptance’, which I think is a very fitting way to lead into the rest of the EP songs. The end of the track is pure pop chaos, which I’ll never get sick of. So fun to play live!

ten feet tall

For me, ‘ten feet tall’ is the most important song on this body of work and was the hardest to get right. I’d never really struggled with mental health issues before and was too scared to talk about it as I thought I was being a burden to everyone around me. I remember walking into the room with James and just bursting into tears. We knew pretty quickly this was going to be a special song. 

The production actually took a while to get right. James and I both knew where it needed to go, but wanted to make sure we were doing it justice. It wasn’t until I sent one of the demos to my partner and he challenged the structure of it, that it finally fell into place. Just needed that outside perspective.

I’ve played it at quite a few shows now, and get so touched at how many people would come up and say how much it resonated with them. I hope the produced version has the same effect. 

i’ll keep driving

‘i’ll keep driving’ was written to be the perfect windows down driving song. I think my music already lends itself to that, so it was really fun to lean into it. This track has 2 internal journeys going on - one being the personal realisation that the concept of “home” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and the second being that a healthy relationship can ground you in the same way. I’d just moved to Melbourne but still felt like an outsider, but I was lucky enough to meet someone who gave me that stability. “Home” can be whatever you want/need it to be.

when the honeymoon is over

My personal favourite track is ‘when the honeymoon is over’. It’s about falling in love and the absolute chaos that can come along with that. It’s the whirlwind and the ‘what if’s’, the diving headfirst and the doubt that comes after. I think you can actually get bogged down in the doubt if you let it, but it’s about pulling yourself back out and remaining in the moment. It is what it is.

Yorke's new EP ten feet tall is out now via Island Records. 

YORKE ten feet tall EP Tour

Fri 3 Feb - Northcote Social Club, MEL

Thu 9 Feb - The Lansdowne, SYD

Fri 10 Feb - Black Bear Lodge, BNE

Tickets on sale now

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