New Single: David M. Western 'Child Mind'

Enigmatic singer songwriter David M. Western returns with debut album title track ‘Child Mind’ and announces rescheduled album release date + Melbourne residency this June

“There's this twang, heaps of charisma and so much warmth jumping out of those guitars. I love how well you paint the picture with your words. It sits so well in the mind and I bloody love it.” ★★★★½ – Claire Mooney, triple j unearthed

Melbourne’s David M. Western returns with his first new music of the year on the pensive alt-folk exploration, ‘Child Mind’. Following a trio of releases already lifted from his highly anticipated album of the same name, including last year’s ‘Take Your Opportunities’ and ‘Blue Eyes Red’ and their beloved predecessor ‘Instant Life’, the long awaited title track also comes with news of a rescheduled album release date. Originally penned for August 2021, David is pleased to announce that his debut album Child Mind will be with us Friday 24 June, in the midst of a month-long winter residency celebration at Melbourne's Gem Hotel.

Out today via Believe, ‘Child Mind’ the fourth single is a wistful reimagining of David's isolated upbringing, from that of desolation to something that could resemble fondness. Things were silent in David Western’s home growing up; no one around for miles, the tag ‘weird’ slapped onto him early on by friends and enemies alike. High school was never any help. With few friends and personal influences, the autodidactic David scrapbooked his view of art and humanity entirely from the boundless parameters of his imagination and cared not for what he thought the world may expect of him, for of that world he knew nothing. As the album’s namesake and opener, ‘Child Mind’ disassembles and reconstructs these memories into a transfixing centrepiece birthed from fleeting nostalgia and the abrupt lucidity of adulthood. The result is as captivating as it is sobering, rounding out a quadrant of evocative releases from the album penned to be one of the most intriguing indie folk releases of the year.

“I wrote ‘Child Mind’ as a memoir about being a young man growing up in a small town. I abandoned a ‘woe is me’ sentiment and just penned down many of my observations and experiences from my time spent in those earlier years. I still come back to the lyrics of this song as I feel transported when I listen to it.”
– David M. Western

Since moving to Melbourne, David M. Western has built a devoted following playing headline shows and supporting the likes of fellow Aussie greats Julia Jacklin, Spacey Jane, Gabriella Cohen and Asha Jeffries among others. Now in his late twenties David is what many consider to be the artists’ artist. The musician’s musician. A proficient guitarist, an accomplished songwriter. David has no intention of being ‘found’ - in fact he plans to always be that lost, strange boy emerging from the mud of Gunditjmara country that bred him. Do not miss your chance to catch this artist on the rise when David M. Western plays a five-show residency each Thursday night in June at Melbourne’s Gem Hotel, supported by Jim Lawrie, Baby Velvet, Annie Rose-Maloney and more to be announced. It may be interesting to hear what he has to say before he returns to the soil that concocted this strange, ethereal poet.

Gem Hotel June Residency
Thursday 2 June - Baby Velvet
Thursday 9 June - TBC
Thursday 16 June - Ben Wright Smith
Thursday 23 June - Jim Lawrie
Thursday 30 June - Annie Rose-Maloney
Free Entry
Doors 8pm