The Top 30 Albums Of 2020 (So Far): Sarah Mary Chadwick - 'Please Daddy'

"Despite the pain throughout the record, which is nothing new for the artist, the LP is still full of hope and beauty." - Adam Wilding

The first time we heard some of the songs from Please Daddy was in St Paul’s Cathedral. Chadwick was on the organ, solo, hidden away behind the pulpit while her howls echoed off the arches. Listening from the pews these tracks sounded like a natural extension of her last album, The Queen Who Stole The Sky, which was written on Melbourne Town Hall’s 147-year-old grand organ. The sparseness and the weight of it all was overwhelming, in a way.

On record, Chadwick feels closer. Her backing band have returned - Geoff O'Connor and Tim Deane-Freeman on bass and drums, Hank Clifton-Williamson and Joel Robertson on flute and trumpet - and the snare-heavy percussion and lilting flute especially add a lightness that makes you remember that Chadwick’s explorations into mortality and grief aren’t meant to be cold. Life's a bitch and you die every day. You can’t ignore it, but you can’t let it crush you either.