There has been little time for Perth-based alternative-pop band Joan & The Giants to process their triple win at this year’s West Australian Music (WAM) Awards in June, taking off soon after for not only their first-ever headline tour but also the debut of East Coast dates.
Formed in 2019, and led by frontwoman Grace Newton-Wordsworth, Joan & The Giants’ Cool Kid/Sleep Alone tour kicked off in Newcastle on July 5 and will wrap up back home with a gig at The Bird in Northbridge on August 5.
The milestone moment tour is named in honour of the previous hit single Cool Kid and new release Sleep Alone, which Newton-Wordsworth says is one of the most challenging songs they are ever recorded.
“It’s funny because I wrote it entirely on acoustic guitar, and it sounded very country,” Newton-Wordsworth recounts.
“When we showed it to our producer Dylan Ollivierre, he definitely had some ideas for a different vision that was much more alt-pop produced, which was perfect for us. We recorded this song during one of the most difficult periods of my life, and I nearly gave up on it altogether, but thankfully Dylan kept checking in and encouraging us to tackle it and keep going.
“I have never thrown myself so hard into the vocals, and literally just put all my sadness and heaviness into them — it was cathartic.”
She says Sleep Alone is an anthem for anyone working through spurned feelings or despondency and is about feeling attached to someone who does not make you feel appreciated or seen.
“You feel like you’re running in circles, cancelling plans, waiting up for a message — all for someone who doesn’t really care. Then when they are there, it can also feel so good it’s suffocating, like it haunts the spaces you live in. The scent on the pillows, the memories that creep in the spaces around you,” Newton-Wordsworth adds.
“This song is about wanting someone so much, it’s toxic and you’d rather not sleep than sleep alone longing for someone’s touch. I love the references to the hauntings, burying secrets in a graveyard, the morgue — it all feels heavy, which is exactly what it felt like to write this song about real moments in time.”