PREMIERE: Fall In Love With Belle Miners' Joyous Indie-Folk On Debut Album 'Powerful Owl'

Canadian-Australian folk-pop trio Belle Miners release their debut album, Powerful Owl, this week, and The Music is stoked to be premiering the sublime collection of songs today.

Comprised of Canadian musicians and long-time friends Felicia Harding and Marina Avros and Aussie singer-songwriter Jaime Jackett, Belle Miners trade in effortlessly euphonious soundscapes, drawing in their listeners with lush, soaring harmonies, strong, powerful melodies and personable lyrics set against deftly executed, acoustic-driven instrumentation.

The thematically wide-ranging release is sure to touch at least a few cornerstones for anyone who comes across it, traversing love, loss and even life-threatening illness with a bounce in their step and innate, warm hopefulness that imbues the album with an undeniably endearing quality.

Although widely relatable, the songs also possess a personal quality; first single Fall In Love With Me, for example, is a gorgeous reflection on same-sex love that, given our current climate, is particularly timely: "It was completely by chance that the government of Australia happened to be going to the polls the very week we were planning to release our single," Jackett said in a statement.

"And with the marriage equality plebiscite up and coming in Australia, we wanted to show our support for our bandmate, Marina, and the LGBTQI community in Australia, and the world, by offering up our pending release for equality ... it is focused on love, personal challenge and death. It's sort of the collective life story of the band, if you will."

In Strange World and Night Flight, the band took inspiration from Jackett's recent brush with cancer, which saw her have a brain stem tumour — which had been written off as inoperable and benign for more than a decade — removed last year.

"After a series of events, it was my family's discovery of Dr. Charlie Teo that saw me having the 'inoperable' removed," she said. "As it turned out, it had become a cancer. I believe he saved my life.

"The band has helped get me through this insane period of my life... we stubbornly toured in February, despite the challenge, and followed that by recording Powerful Owl after the tour... Needless to say, that experience was a huge influence on songs that I penned. Lyrics come in many ways — fully formed, smooshy syllables, painfully pulled from the ether, or magically drifting into your head. Scribbled on paper, recorded on phones, or repeated by rote so their remembered for later when a pen or phone is handy! Our muses and geniuses take many forms!"

Belle Miners will be taking their splendid album on the road throughout January on an extensive tour presented by The Music. They'll get under way on Wednesday 3 January in Merimbula, and roll through to Berry, Bulli, Fremantle, Broome, Geeveston, Franklin, Ballarat, Burrinja, Melbourne, Nagambie and Chiltern throughout the month.

Tickets are available now, and you can suss the full spread of dates and details over at theGuide.