'Better Girl' Is A Celebration Of Inspiring Women

Australian alt-rock pioneer Diana Anaid (aka Diana Gosper) lately returned with the spirited album My Queen, inspired by the women in her life. Indeed, as the multiple ARIA nominee reinvigorates her career, she is all about family and experiences.

Gosper is preparing for a headline tour - her first run since supporting punk legend Adam Ant in October. "I've already had my son [Stone May] come over and make me breakfast and I've cleaned the house and nearly managed to fit in some yoga, but threw that idea out the window," she says brightly at 10am from her community home near Lismore and Nimbin.

She has previously spoken of an upbringing that was apparently bohemian and nomadic, yet also insecure and challenging. Gosper was an infant when her mother passed so she was partly raised by her dad. She gravitated to music, learning guitar. Gosper was gigging as a teen - even as she became a parent to Stone. Assuming the quasi-palindrome handle Diana Ah Naid, the 21-year-old released her raw self-titled debut in 1997, relishing a triple j hit with the defiant I Go Off. However, Gosper performed so much that she needed risky throat surgery. "I had the worst vocal cyst that they'd ever seen!"

Early on, Gosper showcased at SXSW in Texas. And, with album three, Beautiful Obscene, she signed to a US label, which culminated in her breakthrough American chart single, Last Thing. Gosper still visits the US "to foster those connections and just not to lose track with the fans". But, following 2010's Diana Anaid, she took a hiatus.

For last year's comeback, My Queen, Gosper teamed with Steve James. The Brit expat veteran produced seminal albums for Toyah Willcox, aka "the high priestess of punk". "He was really quite funny and quite charming and quite a decent guy," Gosper says. "I'm sure I would have loved to know him when he was maybe in his naughty days!" Crucially, James was "open" to listening to her most undeveloped (or "embarrassing") ideas.

Gosper has been compared to Ani DiFranco and Alanis Morissette. But, five albums in, she stands on her own. "I think my lyrics are still really direct and frank, but maybe a little bit more gentle - or the gentle moments are maybe more gentle than they used to be. Maybe that even means that the more emotional or powerful or angry moments are more extreme as well, I'm not sure." Her creative method has changed, too. "I really deliberate over the songs a lot more than I ever used to," she notes. "It's quite painstaking sometimes... So maybe I've [become] a bit more of a perfectionist over time and with almost every part of the process."

On My Queen, Gosper presents "a soundscape" that traverses everything from art-rock (Into Your Heart) to jagged alt-country (Can't Apologize) to reggae-ska (Mortify Me). Braveheart boldly veers into electronica. "I do have a full-on love affair with that sort of sound, 'cause I'm from the '90s as well - there was a lot of that sort of stuff going on."

Gosper's current single, the classic-rock Better Girl, manifests the album's theme of gender identity and empowerment. "Look, I'm so lucky - I've always wanted to have a sister and my sibling Heya has actually recently undergone a gender transformation. So this song is actually written partially about her. It does also have elements about my mum, who I lost when I was a baby, and also some of the great women and even musicians who have encouraged me and inspired me in the past. And even looking towards female leaders in our community and further abroad." Gosper devised a powerful video concept with Stone, who directed it. "It was actually to highlight and bring about a conversation and a bit more of a compassionate outlook and a bit more of an understanding towards the transgender issues that face people who are in that situation where they're trying to express their gender identity, and how much transphobia they can actually come in contact with."

In touring My Queen, Gosper will be playing different show formats and James is joining her on select dates (with audience Q&As). "It should be a really eclectic little run of shows. I'm really looking forward to it. Some of them are gonna be a bit more unplugged and a bit more acoustic, and then some are a little bit more with the drums and whatnot."