This week, Australia’s favourite indie darling Bertie Blackman announces a huge national tour following the release of her new album ‘Secrets and Lies’. ‘Secrets and Lies’ was launched with an album of the week feature on triple j and a hit single with the track Heart, one of the most downloaded singles of the week ever on iTunes, plus sold out shows in Melbourne and Sydney. Next month will see Bertie take the live show to the rest of the country as she releases her second single, ‘Thump’. Haunting vocals soar, industrial electronics collide and the track troughs into eerie breaths of quiet throughout. For Bertie Blackman, ‘Thump captures that feeling of walking home late at night; your footsteps hit the pavement and your whole body pulsates. You become really aware of your breath and heartbeat.’ ‘Thump’ echoes a time when Courtney Love cleaned herself up and produced perfectly dirty pop songs and when the likes of PJ Harvey, Kim Gordon and Kate Bush made musical history. Bertie Blackman’s music isn’t just heaving with 90s rock nostalgia; she fits with the contemporary ilk of Karen O and Beth Ditto of The Gossip too. Like her predecessors, Bertie Blackman gears her song-writing towards powerful vocals: ‘I wanted to write a song that really carried my vocal range; the best way of doing that is jumping octaves really quickly. It’s quite difficult to do, but I’ve never had vocal training - so I just did it.’
Thump was produced by Sydney-based UK producer, Lee Groves (Goldfrapp/Depeche Mode) and mixed by Dave Bascombe (Tears for Fears/Royksopp) in the UK. ‘Secrets and Lies’ has received accolades from the Australian media since it’s release in May with Melbourne’s Herald Sun calling it a “huge shot in the arm for smart, strange, subversive, envelope pushing pop”. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph echoes the praise, saying that “Just as it seemed 2009 would be bereft of anything shockingly original, Blackman saves our sonic day……”. Go check out a show and see what everyone is raving about. | 
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