BY JASMINE SHEPARD
Head Over Heels is the latest release by St Emerald, an up-and-coming four-piece band from Melbourne's eastern suburbs.
St Emerald band members Nathan Goodwin, Liam Mackay, Josh Scott and Cameron Wiltshire began to develop and explore their Beatle-esque sound in a church band.
Single Head Over Heels is crafted through deep, meaningful lyrics and echoes nostalgia for an innocent first-love. However, drummer and songwriter Mr Goodwin said the single initially began as an inside joke.
“I always joke to Liam [Mackay] about him writing a song for his girlfriend at the time, so I decided I would write a song for his girlfriend at the time too,” Mr Goodwin said.
Lead singer, Mr Mackay, added to it and said the band’s inspiration comes from their experiences.
Head Over Heels was written prior to the end of his relationship.
“It was about my ex,” Mr Mackay said.
Despite the light-hearted beginning, Head Over Heels has evolved into a romantic duet which reflects of a life-long love.
Mr Goodwin said writing a love song was simple, although he has never fallen in love himself.
“It’s a hopeful song about the most pure types of love. You know, it’s probably not all that realistic if you look at the lyrics… but it’s something to aim for,” Mr Goodwin said.
This new single sees St Emerald retain its indie folk sound.
However, the song feels more mature than their earlier singles as it explores complex concepts of love, all of which have been underscored by beautiful fingerpicking moments on the guitar.
Bass player, Josh Scott, reflects on the slower “safe” sound of Head Over Heels in comparison to the band’s initial tracks.
“Our first track, Sienna, that we released, is very different to this one,” he said.
“Even on the EP we’ve got Never Enough, which is an eight-minute piano ballad, it’s super different.”
Their current track features the gentle, feminine vocals of Jessie Singleton, complementing Mr Mackay’s strong voice.
Despite this, Ms Singleton’s feature was not initially part of the plan for the song.
“We had someone else originally lined up to sing the part that Jessie ended up singing… [but] the other person couldn’t actually end up singing on the track,” Mr Scott said.
He recollected he thought of Ms Singleton immediately once the spot opened up.
“I asked [Jessie] if she could do it, and the next week she sent us her part... it was kind of a last-minute thing, but it worked,” he said.
The single has received widespread support, reaching more than 4000 streams on Spotify since its debut on September 18.
St Emerald is also hoping to release an album mid next year.
