Ash Lune is a Mumbai-born, Brisbane-based artist making a name for herself thanks to her hypnotic voice and dreamy lyrics.
It’s safe to say Lune was born to be a musician, given that every member of her family is also a talented singer and instrumentalist. In fact, her older brother taught her to sing before she even learnt how to talk properly.
Lune is now fresh off the release of her latest track ‘Panic at the Party’, an intimate tune with delicate yet powerful vocals that examines social anxiety.
“There’s always at least one moment during a party when I’ll look around and realise that if the lights were on we’d all look like idiots intoxicating ourselves into a temporary bubble. In that moment the weight of the world comes back, the bubbles breaks, and everything goes south,” said Lune of the song’s inspiration.
To celebrate the recent release of ‘Panic at the Party’, we had a chat with Ash Lune as part of our Get To Know series.
Check out ‘Panic at the Party’ by Ash Lune:
How did your artist name come about?
I had a very difficult time finding a suitable name for myself so it was my manager, Ashley Page, who came up with Ash Lune. My first name, Ash, is close to my birth name, so it’s a nod to my past. However, my second name, Lune (which means moon), is close to where I want to go, so hopefully, it’s the future. At first, I thought that people would mistake it for Ash “Loon” and think it meant crazy. However, I thought “Loon” was quite fitting too and had a good laugh about it.
How would you describe your music to your grandma?
My grandma speaks very little to no English so I would have to explain my music to her in my mother tongue. I’d probably say that it’s calm, slow and soft music about my life. To be completely honest with you, my grandmum probably thinks that I’m working as a doctor or neurologist so I wouldn’t really talk to her about my music. However, I miss her and I love her very much so I’d probably just play it for her without telling her that it’s me.
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Tell us about a few of your tracks; their titles and what they’re about?
I have an EP coming out sometime this year and it’s called Broken Science Experiments. One of my favourite songs on that EP is ‘Before’ and it’s about a very honest conversation that I had with my best friend. He and I would often discuss how easy my life should be with just music as my main focus. In the song, I express how although it should be easy, I’m still me and my brain is still my brain, which makes everything harder.
Another song I really love is called ‘Bombay’ and it’s a nod to where I’m from. I had associated my home, the place I’m from, with people that could never love me like I loved them. That in turn made me feel like Bombay didn’t love me back. Before covid, when I was still in love, I’d take frequent trips back home. When I fell out of love, I stopped going home and regardless of whoever asked I’d say “I’m not coming back to Bombay”. That wasn’t right but it did happen, so I wrote a song about it.
What do you love about your hometown?
I miss my family. I don’t say it as often as I should but I do. Therefore, my favourite thing about my hometown is the fact that my parents are there. I haven’t seen them in almost two years because of covid and I probably won’t see them for a long time. If Covid didn’t exist then my favourite thing about Bombay would definitely be the food.
Career highlight so far?
Every day it’s a new highlight. The amount of press I’ve been receiving, the streams for the song being so high and even the amount of Tik Tok videos people have made using my song. Every day these numbers increase and I could not be more grateful for the same. It’s lovely people like yourself that make every day the new highlight of my career, thank you very much for all that you do.
Fave non-music hobby?
I have a few hobbies and I could never just pick one because that’s too much pressure hahaha. Listening to space podcasts, watching serial killer documentaries, volunteering at mental health centres, filming my life through old cameras and reading would probably all make it to the top of my list.
What’s on your dream rider?
My dream rider would probably include a puzzle, card games, mangoes and my favourite people.
Dream music collaboration?
Even though it is very hard for me to pick one dream collaboration I would probably have to go with Lana Del Rey. I’m a huge Lana Del Rey fan.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Thinking about what I’m going to do tomorrow freaks me out so I definitely avoid thinking that far ahead. I just hope that I’m happy ten years from now. That’s the biggest goal for me, to be happy.
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
My friends never let me do karaoke because they think that it’s unfair hahaha. Favourite karaoke song would probably be ‘My Happy Ending’ by Avril Lavigne.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Last year when I was trying to find my sound and figure out what I wanted to put on in my first EP, I found it difficult to stick to a cohesive piece of work. I was scared that if I didn’t release something very commercial then nobody would listen to me. The EP I have right now is something that I’m very proud of but was scared to release as a Debut project because it isn’t super commercial.
My manager, Ashley Page, said something that stuck with me forever. He reminded me that I didn’t listen to Lana Del Rey because she released singles that became commercial hits or otherwise, I listen to her music because I think that it’s good music. He’s always reminding me that I will find my people and that I mustn’t get ahead of myself. “Baby steps” is his favourite phrase to use with me. He’s my spirit guide and is always giving me great advice
What’s one obsession you have that no one would guess after listening to your music?
I don’t think it comes off as obvious but I’m obsessed with Blackpink and A$AP Mob. Jennie Kim is my bias and I think that Donda is the album of the year.
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