Vera BlueVera Blue has always contained multitudes – but it was only amidst the process of making her upcoming album, Modern Rituals, that she realised just how expansive this multiplicity of hers is.
Vera Blue, with her waist-length ginger locks and angelic soprano timbre, first burst onto the scene as Celia Pavey: in 2013, when The Voice Australia was still in its infancy.
She instantly won the hearts of the nation (and Delta Goodrem’s awestruck support) with her dream-like cover of Scarborough Fair/Canticle, looking for all the world like a Lord Of The Rings extra.
Though she didn’t win The Voice, the debut album – This Music, which mostly featured acoustic covers – she released right after the close of the season peaked at No. 14 on the ARIA Charts.
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At the time, her sound was firmly situated in the folk area. But in 2015, she surprised fans when she announced that she would henceforth be releasing music under the moniker of Vera Blue, and her sound abruptly shifted to delve into a more experimental, electronic palette.
But, in the process of preparing for the release of her third album as Vera Blue, she has come to realise that Celia Pavey and Vera Blue are in fact not separate entities; they are one.
“I think when I first started the project, it felt like Vera Blue was a mask, kind of like a character,” she explains over Zoom, her hair travelling far past the boundaries of the camera. “In my head, it felt like it was this thing that I could step behind.
"But I think as time went on I realised that Vera Blue is me, and Celia is Vera Blue because I’m writing about things that I go through.”
“I feel like the project is just a way to funnel my emotions and create without judging," she continues. "When I think about it, we’re just the same thing. As a person, as Celia Pavey, I feel like I have lots of different identities, lots of versions of self, and I feel like Vera Blue is just another version of myself.”
The realisation was, for Pavey, profound and complicated.
“It definitely made me realise how vulnerable it is to be an artist, to be putting all of my thoughts and emotions and stories into these songs,” she admits. “But I think it’s beautiful, because I make my music for myself, but then when I put my music out into the world it attaches onto people, people make their own stories through my music, they relate to it. I think that’s the most powerful thing.”
For better or for worse, this realisation has ushered in heightened transparency and honesty, in her artistry. “I’m not hiding behind this thing anymore. It’s real. It’s truth.”
It is fitting, because truth, and the multiple selves we all hold within us, appear to be the major themes that foreground this record, Modern Rituals. Just listen to the lyrics of the title track, on which Pavey’s voice cuts sharply through crystal-clean production: “My rituals, and all the things that make me who I am.”
“Modern Rituals came when I realised that these little patterns, these little rituals and behaviours, are what I turn to to exist,” Pavey explains.
“Each album I write, for me, is a form of healing.” 2017’s Perennial centred on heartbreak; 2022’s Mercurial emerged from the depths of mental illness. “This album is more about awareness and looking at myself from a bird’s eye view, without needing to fix or change anything. It's very much just about witnessing myself.”
Modern Rituals is coming at a time where Pavey seems to be at her most in touch with her own identity.
“I feel like I’m really coming into myself. I go through a lot of things with my mental health.” A recent official ADHD diagnosis has helped pave the way for a deeper understanding of herself and what she needs to function.
“It’s kind of what this entire album is about – all these different versions of self, all the things that I’ve been through, all the little things I do to cope.”
It goes without saying that she is extremely proud of the record. “Each song has an identity. I love it, and I love listening to it, so I’m very excited for it to be out into the world.”
Much has changed since Pavey placed third on the second season of The Voice Australia, but much has remained the same – more than most people would realise.
“When I started to experiment with electronic music, that, for me, felt like such a big shift and such a different sonic to the acoustic folk stuff, so I felt like the project needed its own name,” she explains. “It helped create a bit of a separation between the worlds, but all those worlds are still living in the same sound.”
When she writes Vera Blue songs, for example, she begins the process on an acoustic guitar. “It starts with folk music. So it’s all very intertwined.”
Indeed, Pavey was only 19 when she achieved recognition on The Voice; it is natural that her sonic taste developed, changed, and gathered further nuance as she aged.
“I was quite young, so I was just very happy to be there,” she says of the reality talent show. “It was a really crazy experience. It came with goodness and also with some really confronting moments.
"But I think I was very fortunate to continue on in this little world of folk music when I was on the show. And then after that, I just wanted to experiment.”
A formative moment of inspiration came when she saw live performances from British artist FKA Twigs and American singer-songwriter Banks at Laneway festival in 2015. “That made me go: I think I know what I want to do.”
The realisation that she could inhabit more than one sonic world – and, indeed, that those sonic worlds could coalesce and overlap – was freeing. “And it’s not like I closed the door on Celia Pavey, because they’re the same thing. And it’s opened up the possibility to create multiple projects, multiple different identities through music.”
Looking back, it was a markedly brave decision to rebrand just when her career as Celia Pavey had been properly established.
“Like with anything when you’re experimenting or considering a new path, there is that chance where people won’t get it, or it will just not work out. But that’s just the reality of trying something new and going for it. And not everyone’s going to like it.”
Besides, she adds astutely – isn’t that what making art is all about?
“I chose the path of a performer,” she says firmly. Doing so requires openness with her voice, her heart, and her spirit. “This thing that I was born with and have nurtured for so many years has grown into something that feels really powerful.”
Her eyes glitter, and for a breath of a moment, she looks like that elfin 19-year-old again – trembling but determined. “It is pretty magical.”
Vera Blue's Modern Rituals is out now. Tickets to her national album tour are on sale now.
Vera Blue – Modern Rituals Album Tour
Supported by Jem Cassar Daley
Friday, August 21st – Princess Theatre, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday, August 22nd – City Recital Hall, Sydney, NSW
Sunday, August 23rd – Uc Refectory, Canberra, ACT
Wednesday, August 26th – Northcote Theatre, Melbourne, VIC
Thursday, August 27th – The Gov, Adelaide, SA
Friday, August 28th – The Rechabite, Perth, WA
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
