NEW ALBUM: Ruby Jones - Souvenir

Ruby Jones unveils Souvenir with the focus track ‘Loved By You’
+ album launch show on June 6 at Northcote Social Club

Naarm/Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Ruby Jones reveals her 11-track album Souvenir on Wednesday 6 May, featuring the track ‘Loved By You’. To celebrate, Ruby and her band are set to take over the Northcote Social Club on Saturday 6 June, joined by local Americana musician Riley Catherall.

Souvenir is a deeply reflective body of work shaped by themes of climate change, environmental destruction, and collective resilience. The feature single ‘Loved By You’ is about the strange desire to put as much distance as possible between yourself and a painful moment in time. ‘Sometimes the only way to survive something is to let it drift further and further into the past until it softens enough to look at again.’ - Ruby Jones

With Souvenir, Ruby Jones continues to carve out her place as a singular voice in modern music, delivering a record that is intimate yet expansive, grounded yet adventurous, and deeply attuned to the emotional and environmental landscapes that shaped it. The songs were influenced by Ruby’s experience of the 2019 East Gippsland bushfires, which devastated the landscape where her family is based, and carry a quiet sense of grief, longing, and determination to hold onto what remains.

The album’s title track, ‘Souvenir’, was written in lockdown while watching aeroplanes; the song contrasts the inability to leave home with the memory of constant touring. The stillness softened the past's highs and lows. ‘Feeling of Falling’ reframes the pandemic as a toxic lover interested only in a fleeting romance. ‘Not Mine’ was recorded on vintage 1970s tape machines to achieve its warm, cinematic sound. Beneath its cosmic-country texture, the song explores the quiet heartbreak of letting go of an "almost-love" that existed more in dreams than in reality. ‘On Fire’ was born after the 2019 Black Summer bushfires; the song reflects on creating music during a climate catastrophe. ‘Double Feature’, a love letter to St Kilda, is inspired by sorting through childhood photos. It's filled with local references and is meant to be a musical postcard from the past.

Moving into the second half of the album, ‘Falling Stars’ addresses the fragile nature of creative work and the moments of doubt that lead to questioning everything. ‘Bad Idea’ is the upbeat desert-country psychedelia anthem grappling with Catholic guilt, repression, and internal battles. ‘Breaking My Own Heart’ was inspired by watching friends remain in toxic relationships. The song reflects on the helplessness of witnessing loved ones repeatedly hurt themselves and the quiet hope that they will eventually choose themselves. ‘Loved By You’ is about the desire to distance oneself from a painful moment, allowing time for the memory to soften enough to look at again. The album’s closer, ‘Ghost Story’, is a fictional, one-sided conversation with an estranged person who lingers like a ghost. Writing the song was an attempt to exorcise that presence, or learn to live alongside it, a process connected to sobriety, therapy, and music. It ends the record by acknowledging the ghosts we carry and learning to "sing them to sleep."

Drawing further into acoustic alt-folk, the album is rich with layered arrangements, warm backing vocals, and evocative mellotron textures that blur the boundaries between contemporary folk and rock. A truly independent project, Souvenir was a collaborative effort, with production led by Ruby’s long-time guitarist Jules Pascoe, engineered by drummer Selwyn Cozens, and arrangements developed collectively by Jones, Cozens, Joel Loukes, and Pascoe. The record's intricate yet organic sound is further enhanced by the beautiful backing vocals of Jess Deluca and Loretta Miller, and mastered by Matt Redlich.

Step into this new era of desert dreamscapes with Ruby, acknowledging the ghosts we carry, and learning how to sing them to sleep.

Album Launch:
Saturday 6 June - Northcote Social Club, VIC
Supports: Riley Catherall
Doors: 8:30 pm
Tickets

Listen to Souvenir here:
Bandcamp: rubyjones.bandcamp.com/album/souvenir
Stream: xelon.ffm.to/souvenir