Sydney’s indie-pop darling Phebe Starr has released her new clip ‘Rollercoaster Man’ and we’re excited to share it as our latest video of the week.
An intimate and raw song about heartbreak and hope, ‘Rollercoaster Man’ is Starr’s ode to lost love, reminiscent of ’70s influences Carole King and Joni Mitchell.
The track is the perfect introduction to her debut album, Heavy Metal Flower Petal, slated for a February 2022 release.
“I wrote the song after breaking up with my husband, who I married at 21,” Starr said.
“This album was my healing: a journey to find myself in a way I had never known my goal was to become soft and the survivor in me is made of metal.”
With sweeping melodies building into symphonic sublimity, Starr achieves her goal by appearing both vulnerable yet invincible at the same time.
Leading the listener through her personal heartbreak and the mayhem we’re currently experiencing as a global collective, Starr manages to create a surreal soundscape not unlike a fairytale – although in fairytales, people usually live happily ever after.
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Of songwriting, Starr said: “I’m transported to another realm when I write, a place without limitations, where sorrow blooms into something magical.
“A place where my vulnerabilities forge a new path of tenderness.”
‘Rollercoaster Man’ was recorded live on tape with the help of producers Miro Mackie (St. Vincent, Mallrat) and Japanese Wallpaper.
It is set off perfectly with a video shot on a Kodak Krasnogorsk camera by Kevin James Neal in a car park in LA, pre-COVID.
Starr edited the 16mm footage herself from lockdown at home in Sydney.
The right mix of whimsical and dreamlike with a ‘hazy night out’ quality, the video for ‘Rollercoaster Man’ is like all of those ex-love affairs we’ve had in our youth.
Watch the music video for ‘Rollercoaster Man’ by Phebe Starr:
