NEW SINGLE: Ruby Jones new single 'Bad Ideas' + announcing new album Souvenir

Ruby Jones returns with unflinching new single 'Bad Ideas' taken from long-awaited second album Souvenir
+ Announces Naarm/Melbourne launch show

Naarm/Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Ruby Jones returns with 'Bad Ideas', the next taste of her upcoming album Souvenir, slated for release in 2026. A lush and defiant desert country psychedelia anthem, 'Bad Ideas' blends the haunting emotional clarity of Emmylou Harris with the cinematic sweep of Weyes Blood, drawing on sonic echoes of Fleetwood Mac, Angel Olsen, and Florence and the Machine, out Wednesday 29 October via Xelon.

Beneath its shimmering, analogue-washed exterior, 'Bad Ideas' confronts themes of Catholic guilt, repression, and the inner turmoil of suppressing one’s darker impulses. Ruby describes the track as “a cathartic release, an exorcism you can dance to.” She continues: “It’s about shaking loose the shame and repression we all feel, at least I do, and transforming it into something wild and beautiful... Perhaps it’s a little odd to write an Americana song about Catholic guilt, but it felt right for this record and for me.”

'Bad Ideas' pulses with a driving energy to make listeners move, shake, and feel the liberation that comes with emotional honesty. Written through a series of long-distance collaborations between Ruby and long-time creative partner Jules Pascoe (Husky, Jazz Party, Jaala), the song emerged from a digital back-and-forth of musical musings, eventually taking shape across two analogue recording spaces. The use of vintage gear and 1970s tape machines lends 'Bad Ideas' a textured warmth and immediacy that feels both nostalgic and fresh.

'Bad Ideas' offers yet another glimpse into Souvenir, a record that explores themes such as intergenerational trauma, climate grief, and rebirth, all while retaining the emotionally raw and poetic lyricism that marked her 2021 debut, The Woman Who Loves You. That release, which earned her high rotation on Double J, a sold-out launch at The Curtin, and runner-up in the Darebin Fuse Songwriters Award, cemented her as one of Australia's most compelling and respected voices.

A former member of Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes, Ruby was also awarded one of the Upstart Music Awards and was shortlisted for the International Songwriting Competition (2025), affirming her status as a songwriter of rare depth and vision. Her rich musical lineage and acclaimed live presence are channelled into this next chapter, one marked by bold sonic exploration, spiritual reckoning, and the kind of songwriting that doesn’t flinch from the mess and magic of being alive.

Rapture, rebirth, and kaleidoscopic desert dreamscapes, Ruby Jones is ready to take communion with the ghosts of her past.

'Bad Ideas' is out Wednesday 29 October via Xelon