Thelma Plum Meanjin

First Nations singer-songwriter Thelma Plum was in London working on the follow-up to her 2019 debut album Better in Blak when the pandemic hit, sending her home to Brisbane. Once there she continued to write songs, only they felt different to those she’d penned overseas, drawing heavily on the familiar surrounds of her hometown—or, as it’s known to the Traditional Owners of the land, Meanjin. As such, this six-track love letter to Brisbane/Meanjin is a deeply personal collection, rife with Plum’s plain-spoken yet highly evocative lyrics—witness the slow-burning “Baby Blue Bicycle”, in which she sings, “I miss my mum, I haven’t seen her in months/I think about that Queenslander on the hill.” The indie-pop “When It Rains It Pours”, meanwhile, contains references to one of the city’s favourite musical exports, Powderfinger, name-checking their song “(Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind” and album (and Brisbane/Meanjin landmark) Vulture Street. Whether she’s missing her family while watching her neighbours set up for a dinner party (“When It Rains It Pours”) or writing a nostalgic driving song (“Backseat of My Mind”), Plum’s ability to capture universal emotions while drawing on personal experiences is a rare skill.