Selve are a six piece alt-rock band combining elements of pop, psychedelia and indie rock. Led by Jabbirr Jabbirr frontman Loki Liddle, their unique sound is cascading through the music industry, carving a path of untold stories and new sounds.
Last year Selve released their album ‘Breaking into heaven’, making history as the only First Nations led band to record an album at the famed Abbey Road Studios. With legendary albums by artists like The Beatles and Pink Floyd recorded in the space, you can feel the influence and weight of previous generations and 60,000 years of history in Selve’s music.
The album itself has deep roots in Indigenous culture, inspired by a quote from legendary jazz singer Nina Simone; ‘The people who built their heaven on your land, are telling you that yours is in the sky’. Lead singer Loki Liddle described the album as a ‘glass brick through a window’, a radical and defiant act spurring prisms of light and colour rather than destruction, reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’.
Selve are not stopping there either, last week they treated us to a new EP, titled ‘Breaking Outta Heaven’, a sequel to the album released last year. Selve are pushing boundaries and leading by example in triumphing First Nations music. The sound is nostalgic, like smashing a glass of sunlight and all the pieces glow with different sounds, triggering memories long forgotten.
Words by Angus Piper