Award-winning singer-songwriter Emily Barker & Lukas Drinkwater to release new covers album 'Room 822' feat. single 'Sleep, Australia, Sleep' (Paul Kelly)
How would you get along with your partner if you were locked in one room together for fourteen days? That's the dilemma that faced Emily Barker and her husband Lukas Drinkwater when they finally made their first trip to Australia for almost two years. Forced to quarantine in a hotel room for two weeks in October 2021, they needed a plan.
The plan they came up with was to record an entire album...in Room 822.
With a guitar, folding bass, keyboard and recording gear on hand, Emily & Lukas set about turning their room in Perth’s Westin Hotel into a recording studio. The outcome? An album full of tender, beautiful recordings featuring some of Emily’s favourite Australian songs - from growing up through her teenage years in Western Australia to now.
Set for release on January 14, 2022, Room 822 sees the Australian born/UK based singer-songwriter & husband/producer/multi-instrumentalist Lukas covering songs from the likes of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Push The Sky Away), Deborah Conway (Will You Miss Me When You’re Sober), You Am I (Mr Milk), Kasey Chambers (The Captain), The Church (Under The Milky Way), The Waifs (London Still) and many more…including Emily’s take on Paul Kelly’s powerful, Sleep, Australia, Sleep - the first single to be lifted off the album.
Of the track, released on December 9, Emily says “Like most Australians, I’m a fan of Paul Kelly. I think of him as the Bob Dylan of Australia: a brilliant storyteller who never shies away from tackling the pertinent and sensitive issues of our times. He’s consistently uplifted burgeoning Australian songwriters such as a young Archie Roach back in the 80s and, more recently, Jess Hitchcock.
In ‘Sleep, Australia, Sleep’ – released as a standalone single in 2020 – Kelly attacks the complacency held by corporations, government, and people in positions of power, with their stuck and endangering attitudes towards the climate crisis. The song is also an elegy to our precious native animals and plants: Australia has one of the highest rates of extinction in the entire world.
When it came to recording our version, I began by playing and singing it on acoustic guitar. In this stripped-back style, Lukas and I realised just how devastatingly sad the lyrics are – something which is perhaps a little hidden in Kelly’s sardonic delivery and the waltzy, more uptempo production of the original. We initially intended to add double bass and lots of harmonies but realised this stark, unadorned version delivered the message with clarity.
Emily & Lukas’ single Sleep, Australia, Sleep is out Thursday December 9, with album Room 822 set to be released January 14, 2022 via Cooking Vinyl Australia / Thirty Tigers.
To coincide with the album’s release, Emily & Lukas will embark on their first Australian tour since 2017, taking in QLD, NSW, ACT, VIC, SA & WA. You can also expect to hear songs from Emily’s previous releases, including her recent critically acclaimed album, A Dark Murmuration of Words, which received glowing reviews both here and abroad and will be the first time performed here live.
DON’T MISS EMILY BARKER & LUKAS DRINKWATER ON TOUR IN 2022:
Saturday 8 January – 2PM - Sonic Sherpa INSTORE, Brisbane QLD
Sunday 9 January - Can you keep a secret?, BRISBANE, QLD | TICKETS
Friday 14 January - Wooloweyah Hall WOOLOWEYAH, NSW | TICKETS
Saturday 15 January - Valla Town Hall VALLA, NSW | TICKETS
Sunday 16 January - 5 Church Street BELLINGEN, NSW | TICKETS
Thursday 20 January – Toyota Fan Zone Stage, Tamworth Country Music Festival NSW
Sunday 23 January - Django Bar SYDNEY, NSW | TICKETS
Thursday 27 January - Smith's Alternative CANBERRA, ACT | TICKETS
Saturday 29 January - Vine Hotel WANGARATTA, VIC | TICKETS
Sunday 30 January - The Macedon Hotel MACEDON, VIC | TICKETS
Wednesday 2 February - Basement Discs INSTORE Melbourne, VIC
Thursday 3 February - Archie's Creek Hotel ARCHIE'S CREEK, VIC | TICKETS
Friday 4 February - Music on the Hill RED HILL, VIC | TICKETS
Saturday 5 February - George Lane ST. KILDA, MELBOURNE, VIC | TICKETS
Wednesday 9 February - The Wheatsheaf ADELAIDE, SA | TICKETS
4-7 March - Nannup Music Festival NANNUP, WA | TICKETS
11-14 March - Port Fairy Folk Festival PORT FAIRY, VIC | TICKETS
About Emily Barker
Born and raised in sleepy Bridgetown, WA, Emily Barker is an award-winning singer-songwriter, best known as the writer and performer of the theme to the BBC’s hugely successful crime drama Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh. She has released music as a solo artist as well as with various bands and collaborations including The Red Clay Halo, Vena Portae, Marry Waterson and Applewood Road (with whom she released a remarkable album of original songs recorded live around a single microphone, dubbed “flawless” by The Sunday Times) and has written for film, including composing the soundtrack for Jake Gavin’s lauded debut feature Hector starring Peter Mullan and Keith Allen.
About Lukas Drinkwater
Lukas Drinkwater is a producer, multi-instrumentalist and session musician based in Stroud, UK & Perth, Western Australia. He's been a touring & recording musician for 20 years, working with artists such as Seth Lakeman, Emily Barker, Will Varley, Tankus the Henge, The Little Unsaid and his own duo Jacob & Drinkwater.
