Eilis Frawley On Making The Transition From Adelaide To Berlin

Eilis Frawley speaks like she’s from everywhere.

Though she is South Australia born and bred, the experimental musician has the distinct, lilting accent of someone who has spent a lot of time away from home. Or, her original home, at least.

She first moved out of Adelaide in 2012, and relocated to Seoul, in South Korea, for a temporary English teaching position. 

“But then I started playing drums in a band,” she says. “There was a really, really cool underground scene happening in Seoul at the time.” Then she and one of her bandmates moved from Seoul to Berlin at the same time, in 2016, and the rest is history.

Now that she’s nearly spent a decade in Berlin, does it feel like home?

“For sure.”

And now her solo spoken-word album Fall Forward, set to be released via the independent record label Sinnbus and distributed by Rough Trade, is poised to make waves. It is expressive and politically prescient, dramatic but sophisticated. It forces you to listen with open ears.

Frawley attended The Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide, but she adds that she does not have that much experience playing here. “My first band was here, but nothing on a more professional level.” But still, she says, in regards to the specificities of playing live in Adelaide, “I think I miss this friendliness, this openness of crowds. If it’s good people will talk to you. I feel like European crowds can be a bit more tough to win over.” In Adelaide, people don’t necessarily view themselves as simply too cool.

She adds, “I also think the quality of music here is very high. I try to keep a close eye on what’s happening.”

But it is perhaps easier to feel supported in the pursuit of the arts in a place like Berlin, Frawley would say, “just on default. I mean, there’s over four million people, so you have a much larger population. And everyone lives in the city. There’s no suburbia like there is in Adelaide. From my house, I could probably walk to ten different venues. And that makes going out spontaneously much easier.”

Scores of people uproot themselves and move to Berlin to “make it” as artists - in whatever medium that happens to be. But is that viable as an option?

“I think it’s getting harder,” she acknowledges. “When I moved there, rent was less than 300 euro a month. You could get lots of cash jobs. It was definitely possible. I think things got more expensive. After the pandemic, things really changed. But there’s still a lot of venues. And there’s a lot of funding for the arts still, so if you’re emerging there’s a lot of support.”

Frawley was in Berlin for the entirety of the height of the coronavirus pandemic. “It was pretty rough. I mean, there was no music, no concerts, for two years.” 

But all of this sequestered time led to her starting a band with two close friends. They spent all their time together in the studio because there was truly nothing better to do. “That was pretty cool,” Frawley says, “because I think we wouldn’t have that amount of time again.”

She wrote much of Fall Forward during the pandemic. “That kept me busy. I had to do something,” she laughs.

Frawley, originally a drummer, was desperate for a solo project, but, in her own words, “can’t sing. I don’t have any ability to pitch or sing in tune. Actually none.”

Is she sure she can’t sing?

She grins. “I’m sure.”

This spoken-word style emerged literally out of necessity. She had to learn to talk and play the drums to create the music she wanted to. Did this supposed utter lack of vocal talent feel like a huge barrier to her?

“I feel like it was definitely a limitation.” But, she realised, “There are other possibilities.” She smiles, content with the route she’s chosen. “It’s alright.” Her solo work came of being an instrumentalist first, and she seems proud of the way that this has lent her music extra texture.

It feels like the perfect time for the album to come out, given its strong political bent. Which is darkly amusing, given that Frawley wrote much of the album years ago, but it feels just as relevant. 

It is almost disappointing. “Nothing changed. Or it went backwards,” she sighs

But the music is “for sure” a helpful political outlet for her. It is a “rewarding” process.

Frawley enjoys the total agency of having a solo project. “I like the idea that you can make a lot of the decisions. It’s a much more streamlined process. But it does get lonely,” she admits. “And sometimes there’s too many possibilities for one person. I feel like there’s endless logistics. But I have a really nice label and a really nice booking agent.” She appreciates having those people to bounce ideas off. Building a team, having a live band… “I feel like the project has a lot of people around it now, even though I’m still driving.”

Frawley, who “loves” to tour, will be bringing the album to the road later this month.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Eilis Frawley (@eilisfrawleydrums)

“I feel like touring is easier than normal life to be honest,” she laughs. “There’s a lot of structure in it. You know what you’re going to be doing for the next two weeks.”

It seems like the perfect opportunity to ask an artist who is about to be touring across Europe what advice she would give to emerging artists who are perhaps looking to leave Adelaide, or looking to make the transition to a bigger city.

“I think the most important thing is to find your community. Without community, music doesn’t work. And I think especially, from my understanding, in Australia there is so much pressure about commercial music, or being played on triple j, or kind of having this streamlined success. But success can look so different. And I think if you can find your community, then they’ll always catch you.”

Fall Forward will be released everywhere on Thursday, March 7th, 2025. Tickets for her tour stops are available to purchase online now.