NEW SINGLE: Charlie Needs Braces 'Wompoo' + Upcoming Album NYAA WA

Charlie Needs Braces introduces the 'Wompoo' Dove in the latest single and video featuring Miri Woods
+ NYAA WA (Take Care) album pre-order
+ 2025 festival appearances

Bursting into the new year and hot off the back of performances at Queenscliff Music Festival, Djerriwarrh Festival, The Town, Folk Rhythm & Life and Tanglewood Festival, Charlie Needs Braces is showcasing her sister and collaborator Miri Woods who has written and taken lead vocals on their new single, ‘Wompoo’ out Thursday 9 January. Wompoo is the final single taken from the forthcoming album NYAA WA due for release on Thursday 20 February. Vinyl album pre-orders are available now via Bandcamp, plus extensive tour and summer festival dates announced from St Kilda Festival to Moomba, Roar Fest and the National Folk Festival.

NYAA WA means "take care" in Charlie's mob’s GuriNgai language, and the songs on the album emphasise the importance of taking care of lands, waters, and wildlife. They also emphasize the need to keep Culture alive, telling stories, and preserving sacred sites from development. The latest single 'Wompoo' is inspired by the native Wompoo Fruit Dove that lives on the North Coast of Australia, "I grew a great love towards the cute, clumsy semi-majestic and endangered dove whilst growing up on a bush block on Bundjalung Country. The story is about returning to the area I grew up in and reconnecting with the wildlife, and being able to feel the warmth of knowing that there’s a safe habitat and place for the wildlife that lives there," says Miri about the song.

Accompanied by a whimsical music video Charlie and Miri worked with a little Wompoo puppet that was puppeteered by their mum Rebecca Hird Fletcher. Filmed, directed, and edited by Master Kapow, The 'Wompoo' video follows the duo through the lands and waters of the GuriNgai and Dharug people in which they've returned, reuniting them with joyful memories of the land and Wompoo Fruit Dove. "We also had some beautiful soft morning light that added a cinematic, magical feel to the video. It gave the whole shoot a dreamy atmosphere, making the visuals even more special." - Master Kapow

NYAA WA, the second full length album from Charlie Needs Braces, opens with the album's first single 'Dyarrubin', a message and reminder to protect and take care of Country. The album continues its theme with the second track ‘Kurrigoyung’ which means ‘shark’ in GuriNgai language. The inspiration for this song came from an experience when Charlie and her partner were kayaking and fishing down on Bruny Island in Tasmania and flows into singles ‘This Land’ and ‘Wompoo’, and the next track ‘Lorikeet Daze’, which uses a sample of a phone recording of the Yidaki  made and played by brother Eden in Darwin inspired by a magical trip to Laniyuk (Berry Springs).

The second half of the album dives into 'Woy Woy', meaning ‘water’ in GuriNgai language, and is inspired by inlets and connecting waterways of the Central Coast; a place where at night the stars and milky way reflect over the water and you can hear and sometimes see the fish jumping. 'Brother' pays tribute to the many families who go through traumas dealing with family members who have drug addiction, and mental health challenges, and 'Mussels' brings a light hearted vibe and the incredible dance moves that feature in their live shows, encouraging their audiences to flex their muscles and also eat mussels. Charlie wrote the lyrics whilst eating mussels on the beach and comparing muscles as she ate them, only noticing then that it’s the same word but spelled differently. 

NYAA WA closes with 'Kariong Lands', a track about ‘Kariong’, a GuriNgai meeting place. Like many other areas nearby and across Australia this site is under threat of being cleared and developed into residential housing and will affect the native wildlife, damage the grandmother tree, and interfere with songlines and the passing down of cultural knowledge.

Charlie Needs Braces has drawn in audiences across Australia, her energetic musical landscapes weaving together stories and language. She is also known for her work with Casey Donovan, The Teskey Brothers, The Seven Ups, and Tek Tek Ensemble. Her debut album ‘Saltwater People’ saw her single and video clip featured on RAGE, was triple j Unearthed Artists of the Week, and was recently featured on the ABC documentary ‘Changing Tides’ as part of a NAIDOC week special. Following the album's release, Charlie has performed across Australia at the Share the Spirit Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, Burramatta Festival, Far East Music Festival, St Kilda Festival, Sydney Road Street Party, Wominjeka Festival, Tanglewood, Oops A Daisy, The Town, and supported the likes of Ziggy Ramo, Kee’ahn, Cookin on 3 Burners, and Harry Angus.

With songs from NYAA WA already featured on Rage with music videos landing in the top 50 for 2024, ABC News, Women In Pop, plus community radio adds on 2SER, Koori Radio, RTR FM, PBS FM, Edge Radio, triple j unearthed, Aussie Music Weekly and editorial inclusions Apple's FIRST, Spotify’s Big Ancestor Energy, Original Storytellers, Blak Australia and Deadly Beats, get ready to dance your way through summer and into autumn with Charlie Needs Braces hit a stage near you!

'Wompoo' out Thursday 9 January
Out via Gyrostream + Bandcamp

NYAA WA out Thursday 20 February 
NYAA WA pre-order now via Bandcamp