Rock The Cradle

Lenka has embraced her recent journey into motherhood with open arms - it's more than evident upon listening to her latest album Shadows, which contains samples of the in-utero heartbeat of her son on the track Two Heartbeats, a lullaby - No Harm Tonight - which was written for him during the late stages of her pregnancy, and a more maternal energy when compared to her previous albums.

Lenka reveals that while she's happy with the album title Shadows, it wasn't her first choice. “I was originally going to call it Lullabies For Adults,” Lenka confesses, “because that's how I made it to sound. But my managers said, 'Maybe think about something else...' It's a lullaby album, and that to me means night time; you listen to it when you're toning down your day, so shadowy. There are also some references to shadows in [the album], and I also see the songs as my shadows; this vague idea that they are remnants of me. It's about reflection, reminiscing, dreaming, regret, memories and things like that.”

It was all the way back in 2009 when Lenka performed in Australia last, and with so much changing for her since then she's thrilled to have the opportunity to share her new sound and concept with audiences in her home country. “[This tour] has been a long time coming. I've been trying to get back for the last few years but because I'm signed to a US major label they didn't really want me to tour over here, so I'm just very excited. It's been hard to get it going and now it's finally happening! Hopefully I can put on some really good shows and make it worthwhile.”

Fans can expect a heavily string-laden band to accompany Lenka for her upcoming shows. “I'm trying some new stuff [with this tour]. It forces you to re-imagine the songs when you strip them back acoustically, or in a different way. I mean, sometimes I amp them up, like I'll add a chorus or a disco beat, but at the moment I'm bringing them down with violin and acoustic guitars, because it's a lullaby album and I want to keep that sort of tone.

“I've been enjoying this [new] line-up,” Lenka continues, “I recently did a tour like this in the States and it was so nice; it just created this really mellow, yummy vibe, I almost wanted everyone to have a nap!” she laughs. “It was just really cosy and sweet and the strings are such beautiful instruments, they bring such emotion. Having done so much touring and jumping around the stage I'm happy to have a little break from that. I might go back to it further down the track, but it's nice at the moment to just focus on the music and let it breathe.”