Young musician releases second studio work

LESS than a year on from her full-length debut, an up-and-coming young singer-songwriter now has a second album to her name.

Shortly after the release of her first LP Sweet Starlight in August last year, performer Evie Charleson, under the pseudonym Véndetta, went to work on her follow-up titled Romanticise which released late last month.

“It was a very organic process in making it, and very lovely, healthy, and beautiful,” Charleson said of creating the 16-song collection.

“It was a lot easier than making the first one but also a lot more personal so when it came out, it was a bit daunting but also amazing.”

Charleson took inspiration from the music and movies of the 1950s and 1960s, which she said informed the album’s core theme of perspective.

“I’m very inspired by the music and cinematography of what was going on then,” she said.

“The whole message of romanticising your life, I was still trying to figure out what that meant to me and over the months I gained more perspective on that and learned more what I was preaching.”

The films of Marilyn Monroe, and the music of groups like The Ronettes, as well as contemporary artists like Lana Del Rey inspired the album.

Recording the album from her bedroom, where she tracked guitar, piano, vocals, and electronic MIDI drums herself, Charleson said she’s learned a lot since her fist studio release.

“I knew what I was doing a lot more because the first time was obviously my first so I was really messy with it and didn’t really know what I was doing,” she said.

“With this one, I really knew what I wanted it to sound like what would be popular in the 1950s and 60s.”

Charleson will wind the clock back even further for her third studio effort of which about four songs have been penned already.

“By the time I was finishing Romanticise, I was already being inspired by the 1920s and Baz Luhrmann, the glamour of that and the psychological aspect,” she said.

“I’m hoping that’ll be out by late next year.”

Charleson is in the running for the City of Ballarat’s upcoming Youth Awards as one of 10 nominees in the Young Creative category.

Romanticise is available to stream via digital platforms.