Ahead of her upcoming EP, Inhuman, Australian singer Gordi has released two new songs. On “Stranger,” a poignant acoustic guitar ballad, Gordi delves into feelings of detachment, reflecting on the days when she and a former love were running on borrowed time.
“After spending the day with Alex Somers in his studio in Reykjavík while making my first album in January 2017, I walked back through the heavy snow to my hostel,” Gordi said in a statement. “I sat down on one of the eight bunk beds and wrote ‘Stranger.’ The song has lived in many forms since, and I’ve always wanted to find a home for it. In one of Melbourne’s many lockdowns, I eventually rewrote the track — I got my friend, JT Bates, to add some drums in the midwest.”
On the transcendental and piano-driven “Visitor,” Gordi grapples with the sadness of reunions, still feeling distant and isolated amid feelings of reminiscing and reconnecting.
“I have spent a lot of my life driving long distances,” Gordi said. “Returning to a chapter of life only to feel like a visitor, a stranger to your own experience. This song began sitting at my parents’ piano, I built the arrangement over six or seven months. As the song came together, a phrase I had come across circled around my head: the literal meaning of the overused and under-appreciated ‘nostalgia’ — the sorrow of homecoming.”
Check out “Stranger” and “Visitor” above.
Inhuman is out 8/19 via Jagjagwar. Pre-save it here.