Budjerah takes us on a tour through the coastal town of Fingal Head

Budjerah is a name which, if you're not yet, you will be familiar with very soon. On a firmly upwards trajectory, the 19-year-old has already made great strides indeed in just the space of a few months, and now he's levelled up again and is heading straight for the top.

Alongside the release of his debut self-titled EP, which dropped March 26th, Budjerah has also announced a run our tour dates to celebrate the release. Having already performed as special guest for Lime Cordiale and Thelma Plum, he will be bringing his soulful, joyous and undeniably feel-good indie pop to Adelaide, Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney, Byron Bay, Gold Coast and Brisbane in May and June this year.

Budjerah's hot streak of releases continued on into this year, following on from 2020's 'Missing You'. 'Higher', like its predecessor, was produced by none other than Matt Corby, and both singles feature on Budjerah's debut EP. He maintains a humility which has struck a chord with listeners all over the country, and with Corby on-side as a close friend given the similarities of their respective rises to fame, Budjerah continues to strike gold with all he does.

'Higher' is a perfect example of this. It's warm, uplifting, and powerful in an unassuming way. It gets in under your skin, and Budjerah's vocals are magnificent as they soar above the upbeat production. Described by the artist as "an ode to fun, it’s a celebration of happiness when life is stress and worry free," 'Higher' is the perfect anthem for throwing your cares away, even if just for a moment. Paired with fitting visuals, the clip only adds to that energy. Budjerah said of the clip, “I wanted to make the music video for Higher super fun to match the energy of the song. When I hear the song I see people partying in a disco and roller skating. It was really fun to film."

To get to know Budjerah better, we got him to take us on a guided tour of his home of Fingal Head/Booningbah. Situated in NSW on the Queensland border, this town looks absolutely delightful. He's even gone as far as to take his own polaroid snaps and send them to us, so we'd like to say thank you for this gorgeous insight into your hometown, Budjerah! Dive in below:

Wooden Buning Statue

Here is a statue of a Booning (Echidna), it’s really a really old and important landmark of my home. Fingal’s real name is Booningbah, which means Place of the Echidna in my language. When I was little my family told me a story of a greedy echidna that was chased off the Causeway into the ocean. My family has been here for thousands of years and I’m glad I’ve gotten to grow up to be connected to this land and my culture.

Lighthouse

This is the lighthouse. No one runs it anymore, it just works on its own at night. There’s a story that the old lighthouse keeper buried some treasure on the main beach, but no one’s found it yet.

General store

I love going to the general store, you can get all the general things you want to get. They have bread, milk, shampoo and good fish and chips. They also let me busk sometimes.

South beach (Dreamtime beach)

I really like the south beach, it looks like it should be in a movie. When it’s not crowded by people, it’s a nice spot for a beach day or surfing. The beach is beautiful but also very dangerous, there’s a lot of rips and you can get sucked out to sea easily, so be careful.

Seat next to the river

I really like this seat because you get a really nice view of the sunset over the river in the afternoon. It’s a really good spot to sit and think about things, the sound of the river clears my head and is really relaxing.

BUDJERAH TOUR DATES

Tickets here

Friday 14 May | The Grace Emily, Adelaide SA

Saturday 15 May | Mojos, Fremantle WA

Friday 21 May | Northcote Social Club, Melbourne VIC

Friday 28 May | Lansdowne, Sydney NSW

Friday 4 June | Byron Theatre, Byron NSW

Saturday 5 June | Miami Marketta, Gold Coast QLD

Sunday 6 June | The Triffid, Brisbane QLD

The self-titled EP by Budjerah is out now. Buy/stream here.

Introduction by Emma Jones

All images supplied

READ MORE HOMETOWN GUIDES HERE

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