Naarm/Melbourne quintet This Space Is Ours have gone down a softer, more emotionally driven path on their new single ‘All The Things I’ve Been Avoiding’, out today.
The track, which is the bands 3rd single to be released in 2023, spends 1 and a half minutes focussing almost solely on vocalist Gemma Dunsmore’s delicate, emotive vocals. Reverb-soaked guitars perfectly balance the track’s sonic palette initially, slowly building tension before exploding with the band’s trademark punchy sound around the halfway mark. Testing the waters with these dynamic changes shows the band are maturing into one of the most exciting alternative bands in the current scene. This maturity is further reflected in the lyrical content, as they conceptually discuss overcoming mental boundaries and themes of self discovery.
“The lyrics are written about mental health struggles and the grueling path to getting better; when you’ve come to terms with there being something wrong but only just begun the journey to fix it. Overtime, the personal meaning of this song has transformed for me. When I first wrote it, it was almost an apology, as if to say, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I’m trying.” I’ve since been diagnosed with being on the Autism spectrum, and now when I sing it, it feels more like I’m saying something along the lines of, “there is nothing wrong with me, this is who I am and I’m still learning about myself.”
Gemma Dunsmore, This Space Is Ours
The band have recorded 5 tracks with producer Beau Mckee (Earth Caller, Between You And Me), this being the fourth single to be released of the bunch following ‘My Name’ (2023), ‘Apology’ (2023) and ‘Gone In May’ (2022). Crafting a song with so many layers can be a daunting task, but Mckee gave them the room to breathe as they worked on the track.
“This is one out of five singles we recorded with Beau McKee. We had a lot of fun with him in the studio and he ensured we were all comfortable enough to play around and achieve the exact sound we were looking for.”
Gemma Dunsmore, This Space Is Ours
The track is accompanied by a music video directed by Matt Bird, which perfectly reflects the tracks lyrical themes as the video cuts between vocalist Gemma Dunsmore singing in her bedroom, and making her dream a reality while performing with the rest of TSIO.
The band have made a name for themselves over the past few years, scoring a triple j Unearthed First Play for their single ‘Gone In May’, as well as airtime on triple j’s Short.Fast.Loud program for ‘Apology’. They’ve also managed to land playlisting support from Apple Music, landing in playlists such as New Music Daily, The New Rock, and The Riff for both ‘Gone In May’ and ‘My Name’. On the live circuit the band have been equally as busy, scoring support slots for bands such as Drastic Park, Proposal, We Set Signals, PSTCRDS, Synge and Nora.
This Space Is Ours have shown over recent singles that they are more than ready to take things to the next level; and if ‘All The Things I’ve Been Avoiding’ is any indication of what’s to come, there is certainly a big future ahead.
