Sarah Blasko scales new heights with album of grief, change, and light

It’s the music, the children, and the boot camp that keep one of Australia’s most respected artists checked into reality and connected to the essence of her spirituality.

Sarah Blasko’s ethereal and incomparable voice will thrill locals next month when the three-time ARIA Award winner tours her latest album, I Just Need to Conquer This Mountain.

Exploring the personal and the universal with big themes of grief, change and the journey towards light, Blasko interrogates the idea of letting go.

“It’s about that holding pattern of waiting for somebody to change and realising you can’t change what other people are doing,” she said.

“But you can change what you’re doing, which becomes necessary because otherwise, you’re just living in the past.

“The whole record was important for me to write. The first half is mainly about letting go and sitting in this grief state, this sadness.

“Then owning it and taking hold of all the good stuff, and not dwelling in what could or should have been,” she said.

In The Way, co-written with Bec Sandridge, Blasko explores the feeling of wanting to return to the church when things are difficult. With missionary parents, the singer grew up in a profoundly religious household and, like many, began singing in the church.

“It’s a plea to somebody, God, whoever. Just get me back, to church, to some place where I knew what the f*** was going on,” Blasko said.

“There was always stuff growing up that we turned our back on, but a part of me loved and relied on that.

“It’s a feeling of rejecting the church and that side of ourselves, but at the same time wanting to run back into the arms of that.

“So, it’s fraught with that desperation. I don’t want to go back, but there’s an element of longing for something that was reassuring in my life.”

Her relationship with God remains, but a different spirituality drives her now.

“Personal faith is not fragile; it moves and changes,” she said.

“It’s deeply spiritual when I’m singing and playing with the musicians, and we’re all working together as one unit.

“And there are other spaces, like when I’m with my boot camp ladies. We’re all from different walks of life, and those connections to me are spiritual. I love that.”

Blasko is philosophical about the ups and downs of an artist’s life and the breaks needed to manage life, especially having children.

“It’s difficult making music – as a woman, as a person in general and as you’re getting older. Every time I’ve gone through doubts, I just remind myself of what I love about it and why I do this,” she said.

A live performance by Blasko can in itself be a spiritual experience. Watching her on stage is like seeing a woman possessed, by herself.

For tickets, head to brunswickpicturehouse.com/sarah-blasko-22-feb