D'Arcy SpillerD'Arcy Spiller is in a state of great change in her life. As she speaks to The Music, the alternative pop singer-songwriter has recently gotten married, moved to Sydney and started a new job at a chiropractic studio.
If that wasn't enough, she's also released her debut album Human Enough. just last month. It's been a whirlwind, of course, but Spiller feels like she's in the best place possible on the other side.
“I'm feeling a lot better than I was before it came out,” she says. “There were a lot of bumps in the road along the way, and I think all of that went onto the album. There's so much on there from an emotional standpoint.
“I feel like I gave people a blueprint of the last year or two of my life, but now that it's out there it's been really good. If anything, I have making this album to thank for helping me to figure out the next moves in my life. I don't think the reality of it will sink in until I start playing shows.”
Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter
Considering how much of Spiller's life she claims it covers, you might be initially surprised to find out Human Enough.'s relative brevity. The album is a classic eight tracks, and spans just shy of 25 minutes – going for succinct delivery rather than belabouring the point.
Spiller confesses this was originally a financial decision, as she had three other songs in contention, but is ultimately satisfied with what Human Enough. ended up being. “It was like the universe saying they're not meant to be on there,” she says.
“Those other tracks had such a different sound to the rest of the album. I was really experimenting – there's one song I'm basically talk-singing on, and another one that was super-grungey. They may well come out in the future in a different form.
“These eight songs felt like a real dark night of the soul,” she adds. “It's an album of transition, of grief and of anger. It has these waves of emotion, and an overwhelming sadness that I've never felt before.”
Indeed, Spiller doesn't shy away from the hard stuff on Human Enough. Though often packaged with catchy hooks and pristine pop production, buoyed by distinctive vocals that recall the likes of Duffy, Amy Shark, and Gossling, the album's lyrical themes are largely centred around central struggles in Spiller's recent life.
One was the loss of her grandfather, which presents itself on the song I Bleed. “Man, I've never felt so numb and lost than making that song,” Spiller offers bluntly.
“Pop was my first immediate family loss. We've had family friends pass away, but this was a whole other thing. He died in his bed, and we all came to the house and saw him in his bed before they moved him.
“I found it really, really hard to process – not so much the idea of death, but processing the dynamics of the family afterwards, because everything had changed,” she adds. “I felt like I couldn't speak to anybody else, and everyone else seemed to think I was really handling things well. So when I sing 'I bleed', what I'm really trying to say is 'I'm human'.”
Then there's Sick Of You, in which Spiller offers a steely-eyed takedown and a proper tongue-lashing over a wash of guitars, centred around the perfect kiss-off of a hook: “I am over you/Yeah, I never really liked you”.
According to Spiller herself, it was the build-up of several different things in her life that lead her to cathartically pen the song's lyrics. “One of the key targets was myself,” she says.
“I was getting really sick of the person I'd become. I'd played so many different roles that I was beginning to lose sight of what I wanted and who I was. I felt like I just kept sabotaging myself. At the same time, I was also sick of a lot of other people.
“I think people thought they could maybe take advantage of me, because I'm a very loyal person and they think I won't confront them or argue about anything. I'd have these conversations with people and I'd be like, 'is that really how you view me?'”
While Spiller largely handled the lyrical side of things on her own, the songs on Human Enough. came to life through a key circle of trusted collaborators.
One such person was Jackson McRae, a prolific session drummer for acts like Mallrat and Allday as well as a producer in his own right. He and Spiller worked on a lot of what made it onto the album together, and Spiller goes on to describe him as “like a big brother”.
“We always had massive D&Ms at the start of every session,” she says. “He was there when I was at my mopiest, and he was guiding me in a way. We were always on the same wavelength.”
More unexpected, however, is Harry Michael – better known as one-hit wonder rapper Masked Wolf, who has since turned his focus to working with artists behind the scenes and helped Spiller with the track Let You Go. “He was kind of like my coach when it came to that song,” Spiller laughs.
“He reached out while I was working on the album to see what I'd been up to, and he gave me all this great advice on what I should be doing. He's great to have in your corner, especially lyrically – he has all of these really great ideas.”
With Human Enough. out in the world, and more live shows in support of it to come, Spiller finds herself in a unique position: Starting anew with an album that reckons deeply with closure and the acceptance of things ending.
She hopes listeners, regardless of whether they've been following her burgeoning career for years or are discovering her for the first time, will have the same uniform take-away: “Don't be afraid to get into the uncomfortable stuff.”
“Once you go through it, what's to be scared of?” she reasons. “Fear is a human construct”.
D’Arcy Spiller’s Human Enough. is out now.
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
