She weighs half as much as her keyboard but she could punch out your Dad. Yes, she is a female singer songwriter…but she’s not shy and retreating or cute. BUT: she’s not 10 tons of slut in a mini skirt and nipple tape belly dancing on a crucifix. She’s addicted to Facebook but not like your best friend Tenille. Her voice will stop you in your tracks. It brings grown men to tears on live television (seriously). It soars, then falters, then soars again and it is full off sorrow even when it is full of joy (soft, broken, soaring, sorrow, spitting, sneering, smiling etc etc etc). And she can dance. She grew up in Papua New Guinea so she is a wild girl that knows which tree has water in it’s trunk, but she speaks French and wears couture even though she can’t afford groceries. She made a record called “I Believe You Liar” and it’s not like other records. It’s better and it’s hard to tell why exactly. They’re all pop songs but not like you think. They are really, REALLY wordy twisty complicated key changing sons of bitches that you’d have to go to music school for 6 years to play (she did) but after they’re done you can remember every chorus and every hook, and on the second listen you may be able to sing back most of the words. They are mostly about love and how love can make you feel any other emotion. She calls them sonic polaroids. "Australia, you have a new and original troubadour to lift your spirits and warm your hearts.” -Tim Finn. She’s like a rock and roll band, but not. She’s kind of like Elvis Costello. She’s kind of like Cindy Lauper. She’s kind of like Motown stuff. She’s kind of like Phoenix. She’s kind of like Tom Waits. She’s like NEW like NEVER BEFORE but… …but not. Washington is the physical manifestation of all these seemingly diametrically opposed forces. Somehow these forces have not yet created a black hole that envelops the universe. They instead created songs and a voice that in one short year have put her in every Australian home on the cover of a magazine, or on the television, or round and round in your head when your taking a shower. It’s possessed musical royalty (and I won’t say exactly who but it’s pretty impressive) and anyone else you can think of. These folks pick up the phone and invite her for a drink but she’ll only come if they’re drinking Hendricks. She was Triple J Unearthed. She’s the Vanda and Young Song Writing Competition. She’s an APRA Ambassador. She’s already touring the US and the UK.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_OE00038
