G Flip, Woodes, Didirri & Baker Boy: The Future Of Australian Music Head To Splendour

This year's Splendour in the Grass line-up is nothing short of mammoth, with international music heavyweights by the likes of Lorde, Kendrick Lamar, Vampire Weekend, The Wombats and Khalid taking the top spots in a dizzying line-up. 

But among the slew of acts heading to Byron Bay will also be some of the brightest new Aussie artists, making their Splendour debuts with a promise of unique, high-energy performances. Ahead of the festival kick-off, The Music caught up with Woodes, Didirri, G Flip and Baker Boy to discuss what audiences can expect of their sets, and spoke about rising from relative obscurity to playing at the biggest festival in the Oz music zeitgeist. 

A self-described drummer turned bedroom singer-songwriter/producer, G Flip (real name Georgia Flipo) is beyond "stoked" to be playing Splendour.

"[Splendour is] like my Coachella, it's something that I'm going to remember forever," she tells us. While she feels like she's grown up with the festival, this will be Flipo's first time ever attending, having never had the money together to go with her mates over the years. Flipo blew apart the odds with the instant success of her debut single About You, which quickly won adoration and was listened to all over the world (73 countries) within days of its initial release on triple j Unearthed in February.

Only a year ago she was holed up in her bedroom surrounded by lava lamps and learning to produce music from YouTube videos, chasing her own sound after years of drumming in bands (in 2016 she toured the US with alt-rockers EMPRA, before that she played in a funk band, and before that it was pub rock).

"When I created all these tunes I only had my parents and my friends to show, and of course they're going to be like, 'Oh yeah Georgia, they're great songs.' But it wasn't until I put About You on Unearthed that I got a real reaction from the outside world... and it was like, 'Oh wow, maybe I am alright at this.'"

Her knack for producing catchy songs imbued with equal measures of power and vulnerability carried through to her second single Killing My Time, which dropped in May. Flipo comes to Splendour off the back of a sold-out national headline tour and just two officially released songs. Her set will be a chance to preview all the other music she is due to drop by the end of the year.

She says that punters can expect a high-energy set with lots of drumming and running around: "I need to get on a treadmill because I'm worried that the [Splendour] stage is going to be so big that I'm gonna get puffed out from running around!

"I feel like when I stand on that stage and say thank you to the audience... I'm just gonna break down crying because it's like my whole life has just happened in five months and this is my dream festival. A whole heap of emotion is going to rush over me."

Another artist set to dial up the feels is singer-songwriter Didirri, who comes to Splendour with his unique brand of incisive, emotional folk-pop.

Full name Didirri Peters, this 23-year-old has been gathering a diverse array of fans since the popularity of his breakout singles Blind You and Jude in 2017, and he's been releasing music and touring solidly ever since - completing several runs in the last year alone. With his strong, earthy voice and a deeply emotional, intellectual tilt to his lyrics, Peters writes songs that break hearts and put them back together again. 

"I like exploring taboos and talking about the things that I don't think people are addressing in their own lives," says Peters, comparing his writing style to that of a comedian. "All of my songs tend to be a warning or a letter of encouragement to myself, so it's often born from mistakes that I've made or hardships that I've seen other people go through."

"Think about having the hardest conversation with a friend about something you really didn't want to dredge up for them, and I've gotta do that every night with a bunch of people." Despite the demands, this recent uni graduate (who not so long ago was busking the streets of Melbourne and working in customer service) wouldn't change it for the world.  

"I love touring a lot so that helps... A few people have come up to me and said very specifically how a certain song has changed their life, and that is enough for me and that keeps me going."

"On a scale of one to ten, I'd be around a really excited," he says of his Splendour debut. "Don't go to my set expecting to see a little folk singer, the band are all boys with feelings too, they get pretty rock'n'roll."

Despite any preconceptions you might have about a guy with a guitar making "earnest" music, Peters' complete lack of pretence is the most disarming and likeable thing about him, and his music tastes reach widely. "Music is for moving people or making people move, and I just happen to be on the moving people side," he says, remunerating on his lifelong love of Kylie Minogue.

Amongst the players in the Splendour line-up, Peters is stoked to be on a festival bill with mate Baker Boy again. 

Danzel Baker, aka Baker Boy, has been on a wild ride since taking out the top spot in the triple j Unearthed National Indigenous Music Awards in 2017, with hit singles Cloud 9 and Marryuna both cracking the Hottest 100. While Splendour is a whole new experience for this rapper hailing from North East Arnhem Land, he is already practised in playing to massive crowds since landing support slots with 50 Cent and Dizzee Rascal on their latest Australian tours.

Baker says fans can expect "a lot of energy and a crazy performance" from his Splendour set, and "there's gonna be a lot of dancing". He has the chops to back up those promises; before Baker was sending crowds airborne with his uniquely sunny hip hop performances he was touring the world with Indigenous dance troupe Djuki Mala. 

Taking the Yolngu Matha word for "let's dance", Marryuna is Baker Boy's whole vibe distilled into a song. "In that three minutes of music you just wanna dance and have fun," he says. With catchy beats and hooks, the infectious good vibes of his music have made Baker a massive hit. But before fame came knocking he was making music to empower young Aboriginal people, encouraging young kids to embrace their culture, their language, their education and their dreams.

Rapping in English and Yolngu Matha language, Baker is here to prove that hip hop can be the perfect medium for cross-cultural connection. "You can use rap music in a way where you can tell stories or tell people what the missing piece is they need... It's freedom of speech," he tells The Music. 

From the Fresh Prince of Arnhem Land to the ethereal wood-nymph of harmonious, cinematic indie-pop, Melbourne artist Woodes will also be lighting up the stage. The moniker of 24-year-old singer-songwriter/producer Elle Graham, Woodes has been garnering solid airtime since her breakthrough 2016 single The Thaw. This hard-working artist has carved out her live performance style by supporting the likes of Montaigne, Dustin Tebutt and NGAIIRE. 

Fresh from her own 2018 national headline tour and supporting City Calm Down on theirs, this will not be her first time taking to the Splendour stage. Last year she performed as a guest vocalist with friends Set Mo and Kilter. This year she is excited to take the orchestral sounds of her latest EP, Golden Hour, and "figure out how to push that into bigger arrangements" with plenty of strings and percussion. "We're trying to make it our biggest one yet in terms of instrumentation," Graham reveals. 

As opposed to ballads about love or break-ups, her latest offerings are more "goal-oriented" and reflect inwardly. Graham counts Still So Young, a song about "perception and thinking bigger" among the tracks she holds dearest. Some of Graham's biggest influences are artists who have gone on to create worlds and empires around their music like Bjork, Imogen Heap and Grimes. But it's the Aussie musicians she surrounds herself with who are her biggest inspirations:

"I'm just so influenced by friends in Australian music, where you can physically see people trying and creating and working together, and that in a way influences me more than an international artist," she says. She looks forward to rallying up with the best and brightest of the local music scene to bring some amazing live music to the "big bowl of really happy people" in the Splendour amphitheatre.

"It's such a beautiful part of Australia for all these people to gather in. I can definitely see why it sells out every year because it's such a unique experience," she says fondly.

Whether you've been frothing over their triple j Unearthed pages or you're going in blind, it's time to get to know the newest vanguard of Australian music makers. While each of them has cultivated their own unique style in their respective corners of the music landscape, there is an undeniable sense of authenticity, passion and purpose shared among them. The future of Australian music is in good hands, folks.