It’s easy to judge any book by its cover, but actually reading it takes a little more time.

From afar, it’s easy to draw conclusion on Heymun’s music without first hearing a note. She professes to loving a particular shopping mall here in this country, she looks sharply fashionable on social media and tucked away in the cultured cool climate of Sydney, appears to be living the existence most struggling singer-songwriters in our part of the world can only dream of. Yet, there is obviously more here than meets they eye.

“Heaviness” may not be what you would immediately think of when attempting to discover her music but that is in actual fact what you hear. It’s like picking up a book thinking it’s going to be an easy Sunday read, only to find you’ve stumbled upon a hulk of a book filled with dense metaphors and unforgettable tragedies.

On this, the opening track to her recently released self-titled debut album, she swiftly re-orientates your expectations within its first few bars. It’s the perfect prelude to what you can expect from her music. She doesn’t actually sing until halfway through the track for one, allowing a whimsical concoction of strings and synths to lure you in like a soothing siren’s call. And even when she does start, she doesn’t say too much before blending back into the background again.

There is a sense that the point of the song is not in what she has to say, but what she wants you to feel, which is something missing in so many contemporary singer-songwriters.

If you were expecting yet another coffee house record from a starry-eyed songwriting hopeful, you’re in for a huge surprise. At the center of the wisp of mist that is Heymun’s music there is still a girl. She’s barely there though. She’s not taking control and she doesn’t want to stand out. She’s allowing the music to sweep her where she needs to go to, happy to give herself into it.

And that’s what makes her music so special, her songwriting is not just in the words and melody, it’s in the airy atmosphere, the slight clunk of the piano notes and the echo in the room. This is a record that is not to be just heard, but experienced.

Stream “Heymun” LP on Spotify.

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Heymun on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

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