Naarm/Melbourne soul revivalist WILSN (aka Shannon Busch) grew up revering classic artists from the '60s such as Aretha Franklin, Etta James, and Sam & Dave. 

"Imagine if I was born in that era, when pop music was soul music," she says wistfully. "I would have thrived."

The singer/songwriter has been steadily generating buzz, and building a social media presence, with her contemporary take on the pop of a begone age – The Music putting "the modern soul artist Australia has been waiting for" on its digital cover as she rolled out a celebrated debut, Those Days Are Over, in 2023. 

Now Busch is returning with her "dream record" in the sumptuous Bloom – led by the buoyant single The Way, which has even had UK radio play. Indeed, Bloom is authentic and instinctive.

"I think, with this album, it's more of a concise sort of project where I feel all the songs go together a bit more – like they gel more than [Those Days Are Over] did," Busch reflects from her home studio space over Zoom as she harmonises a promo cycle with a day job. 

"When I listen back to my first album, it feels a bit higgledy-piggledy – a few different genres."

Busch travelled to Brooklyn, New York, bunkering down for over a fortnight with an ensemble of feted musicians at Hive Mind Recording – a unique analogue studio that recently closed. Her partner (and husband) Stephen Charles Mowat – known in hip hop circles as DJ Matik and for contributing to Drapht's ARIA-winning The Life Of Riley – co-produces alongside Hive Mind co-owner Billy Aukstik. 

A trumpeter, arranger, composer, engineer and producer, Aukstik is a key player in NY's soul music scene (he was credited on Mac Miller's Swimming). Busch had met him back in 2015 as she warmed up for Daptone Records' legendary Charles Bradley at The Corner Hotel.

"It was so inspiring and so amazing to watch these world-class musicians just take my songs that I brought to them and arrange them,” she remembers. “It was basically everything I could have dreamed. It was what I was imagining in my head and they knew it 'cause they're in that genre of music. 

“They really just got it straight away – understood what the aim of the game was. I was so stoked."

The instrumentalists were intrigued by Busch's affinity with the American soul idiom. "They do react really nicely to singing and good singers and they appreciate good singers,” she says. “I do get much more of an appreciation vibe over there in America than I do in Australia. 

“But that's just the nature of soul music. We don't really have much of a soul music scene here."

Brooklyn is a world away from Djilang/Geelong, where Busch was raised in a family of music lovers – her brother Austin a blues musician. She discovered Aretha Franklin as a teen, the Queen Of Soul's catalogue a gateway. 

The compelling vocalist moved to Naarm/Melbourne to study jazz at the Victorian College Of The Arts (VCA). "They encourage you to do the craziest things you can do in that course." 

Crucially, she made contacts which have continued to serve her career. "Some of my band members now are still people that I met at the VCA," Busch says. "It helped me create a community. It's like your step into the music scene in Melbourne – it opens the door for you a little bit."

The new graduate determined to be a professional solo performer – her handle WILSN endearingly derived from a childhood toy gorilla called Winston. In 2015 she aired a soul-drenched first EP, Don't Give It Up (collaborating with Mowat plus the likes of Holy Holy's Oscar Dawson), earning international plaudits. 

Busch subsequently relocated to Nashville, Tennessee for two years after signing a publishing deal with Los Angeles' Pulse Music Group. That culminated in 2019's self-titled EP. But Busch wasn't satisfied with her direction. 

"I started out making soul music and then I did a bit of a 180 and put out some sort of more pop-tinged music – and so that was kind of when I was living in Nashville – and then basically had an epiphany and went back to soul music, 'cause it's my one true love and it always drags you back."

In early 2020 Busch toured Europe with The Teskey Brothers. Symbolically, she cut a duet with frontman Josh Teskey, Hurts So Bad, for Those Days Are Over – the song attracting global radio support. The LP was a critical hit at home, scoring 'Best Independent Soul/RnB Album Or EP' at the AIR Awards.

The chanteuse has since characterised Those Days Are Over as "dark and sombre and about love going wrong." In contrast, Bloom runs the whole gamut of emotion, but ultimately thematises self-fulfilment as Busch expresses gratitude and sheds old rancour. 

"I am happily married at this point,” she explains. “A lot of the songs on my last album were very focussed on exes that have done you wrong and lots of negative stuff. This album, I feel like I leaned a bit more towards being happy and being content and having finally found the right person to be with."

Busch did write about past toxic situations, yet in an empowering way. "There's a few funny songs still about exes, but you can't really get away from that sometimes!" she quips. 

A presser reveals that the "spicy" Big Star is a takedown of a big-noting musician – but, Busch stresses, it isn't a diss. "That one's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek stab at an ex, but that's just a joke song." 

Overall, Bloom is an evolution. "It's a bit more matured in the topics and having more of a deeper understanding of love and loss and hope and all those sorts of things," Busch emphasises. "I feel like my first album wasn't quite where I am now."

Bloom's pinnacle is Without You, redolent of Mariah Carey's gospel epic Fly Like A Bird. "I do love a slow ballad," Busch enthuses. "That's one of my favourite things to write and sing. I'm a huge Aretha Franklin fan and she's the queen of a slow soul ballad. 

“I feel like it's just so fun to sing. You can really flex your voice and bring a lot more emotion than in a fast bop."

Between albums, Busch had a surreal experience when a song she co-wrote, Give You Love, was recorded by Jessica Mauboy (featuring Jason Derulo) as the lead single from her comeback Yours Forever. Mauboy received an ARIA nomination for 'Song Of The Year', while Busch and her associates won the 2025 Vanda And Young Global Song Competition. 

"I couldn't say no to Jess,” she enthuses. “I loved Jess Mauboy when I was younger. I remember voting for her on Australian Idol when I was like 12! So it was a dream come true when she asked for that song. I was like immediately 'Yes.'"

Might Busch be the next Sia, composing material for other superstars on the side? "I would love to actively pursue it," she affirms. "It is a bit hard when you're doing your own stuff at the same time, to do both. But that song, Give You Love, was actually written by me for WILSN when I was living in Nashville and the songs were sounding a little more poppier.

"So it was originally for me – it wasn't actually writing it for anyone else. But then, when I flipped back to doing soul music, that song kind of just got pushed aside and put in a Dropbox folder – no one could see or hear it. And then it found its way to Jess – and it was the best thing that could have happened. She loved it and I was very happy to give it to her! So it was easy to write because I was writing it for me, basically.

"But it is kind of nerve-wracking writing for other people when you're in the room for them. I've done that before – and I'm doing a bit more of that and I'm getting more used to that. I'm a very insular [person] – it's hard to write with other people around for me. But it is something that I really wanna pursue further 'cause, like you probably hear in that Give You Love song, I've got this other pop side of me that I can sort of tap into as well. So I would really love to do more of that in the future."

In the 2000s, a wave of Brit soulsters crossed over into the pop sphere – Amy Winehouse, Adele, and Duffy. Busch has her modern raves. 

"At the moment I'm a little obsessed with Olivia Dean – but I feel the whole world is at the moment," she laughs, recommending the English star's second album The Art Of Loving. "It's been awesome to see her grow and blow up, though. I've been following her for five or six years, I reckon, and the whole world's cottoning on now – which is awesome."

The Grammy-nominated Hiatus Kaiyote placed Naarm/Melbourne on the soul music map. While the city has historically produced acts like the versatile Renée Geyer and Kate Ceberano, soul hasn't always enjoyed wide recognition in rock-centric Australia. Even Daniel Merriweather had greater chart success in the UK as Mark Ronson's protégé. Busch is well connected in the burgeoning local scene (she penned The Way with former Saskwatch member Liam McGorry), but despairs that soul is not yet mainstream.

"This is something that I struggle with every day, 'cause I've chosen this genre of music and it's probably one of the hardest to do in Australia, but one of the easiest to do in America and the UK," she admits. "It annoys me every day, but you just kind of have to push through. I do think that it is changing a little bit – definitely you do hear more soul music on the main commercial stations and triple j even has started playing a little bit of soul music… 

“So Australia is behind, but I feel like it's slowly, slowly getting there. It should be faster."

Busch will launch Bloom at The Curtin Hotel before opening RocKwiz Live – Live At The Gardens next month with her nine-piece band. And a national tour is on the horizon. "We've got some tour dates that are being worked out at the moment for early next year." 

In 2023 Busch fulfilled a headline tour of the US and she's eager for a reprise. "That's definitely in the plans and in the works for next year 'cause, as we were saying, that's where soul music is very appreciated."

WILSN’s Bloom is out now.