Northern Belle

Since leaving Brisbane “two weeks after graduating” from the University Of Queensland, Elizabeth Morris has never come back. Well, not on stage, anyway. The leader of London twee-pop outfit Allo Darlin' has returned to her hometown of Rockhampton (where she “grew up in a butcher's shop”, in a town where the Brashs was the only record store) only every few years since moving to London nearly a decade ago, but never performed. Until, finally, after two albums and a run of singles from Allo Darlin', she'll have her musical 'homecoming', playing to crowds she never played to in the first place. “I have no idea what to expect: how many people will come to the shows, what the fans will be like, what Australian audiences will be like; I've only ever been in one, I've never played in front of one,” she says.

Morris was inspired to migrate via a devotion to Queensland's greatest indie-pop exports. “The Go-Betweens were one of my favourite bands, and I knew they moved to London,” Morris recounts. “I was inspired by the fact that they were this band from Brisbane who had gone on to be not just adored, but internationally adored. There was something very specific about them being from where I was from; there's something in their music that's always reminded me of home, even when I was still living at home. When I moved to the other side of the world, those feelings obviously intensified.”

After finding a job at a sound post-production facility in Soho, Morris roped co-workers into an “after-work band”, The Darlings, and Allo Darlin' grew from them. The band showcase Morris's anecdotal songwriting and ukulele strums – a Lucksmithian sound pitched for a very specific indie-dance-night, Sarah Records-loving set.

“I really loved The Go-Betweens and Belle & Sebastian, that classic indie-pop sound was what we were going for in the beginning,” Morris admits, without a hint of reservation. “And, once we got to know each other more as musicians, we started to develop our own sound. But, when you're playing indie-pop like this, those big bands are always there; I think every review of us ever has mentioned The Smiths and Belle & Sebastian.”

Though there was a vague idea for their sound, Allo Darlin''s early days progressed with a kind of casual happenstance. “We never even had a plan, or even really had to ask for gigs,” Morris recounts. “We played one show and, after that, people were always asking us to play the next one. We'd get asked to play a show in Berlin and it'd seem like a good idea, so off we'd go, but we were just happy to see what would turn up.

Allo Darlin''s first, self-titled record was “very hastily made” at the urging of London twee institution Fortuna Pop! – “we'd only been a band of four people for a couple of months at that time,” explains Morris – but caught the ears of the right people; including a 7.9 from Pitchfork that handed the band an American audience. “Diving headfirst” into being a full-time entity, they toured North America and Europe with results of varying disaster, and made a more polished second LP, Europe.

“The songs,” Morris offers, of the album, “were very much motivated by the fact that my visa was running out, and I didn't know if I was going to be able to stay. So, I was feeling very nostalgic, wondering what I'd take back home to Australia if I had to leave Europe.”

Morris never had to leave, and now she gets to come back home; this time, with band by her side and stages to tread on. “By coming home and playing these shows, it feels like the end of something, or the closing of something,” says Morris. “It's something I've been dreaming about since the very beginning of the band.”

Allo Darlin' will be playing the following shows:

Thursday 4 October - The Tote, Melbourne VIC
Friday 5 October - The Green Room, Sydney NSW
Saturday 6 October - Red Grapevine, Armidale NSW
Sunday 7 October - Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane QLD