Take 5 With Duxie Franklin

Melbourne-based Singer-Songwriter Duxie Franklin recently unveiled her quirky new single and music video called ‘Lucky Charm’, which was premiered exclusively via us! Today Duxie has shared with us 5 of her favourite artists and releases and why.

Ruston Kelly and his 2023 album, ‘The Weakness’. The whole album is a fabulously mood-driven and cohesive body of work. I feel like this album makes him the male Phoebe Bridgers! I especially love ‘Dive’ – very Imogen Heap-ish in its use of vocoder and epic organs. Also ‘Breakdown’; a kinda 90s alt rock production with that gorgeous melodic falsetto.

I’m a production nerd so I love listening to complex details and interesting production choices. I’m also obsessed with melody and harmonies and Eloise is probably the artist I’m frothing over most at the moment. Her album ‘Drunk on a Flight’ is a stunner – velvety vocals, sickly sweet infectious jazz keyboards and swung beats. Music that makes me FEEL… that’s what does it for me. Hard to pick a favourite but ‘Giant Feelings’ is definitely a stand-out with that soaring chorus melody and the gut-punch lyrics.

It might not be very original of me, but I do have Troy Sivan’s ‘One of Your Girls’ on repeat every so often. Gotta love that infectious bass-line, the pulsingly sexy synths and the whisper-in-your-ear tone of his voice (and his British accent?! Why!?) when he speaks the verses. Honestly, it’s a thirst trap for your ears, no other way to describe it!

Renee Rapp – ‘I Hate Boston’. First of all, how bold to write a song proclaiming your utter hatred for a city (however circumstantial her hatred may be), including the lyrics ‘they should just burn the whole city down’!? Imagine a song called ‘I Hate Adelaide’. Surely you’d piss off a whole population? Yet she pulls it off with divine emotional power and vulnerability. Her vocals are really aspirational for me; that expressive combination of belt and sensitivity. This song also proves again the undeniable pull of a solid 4/4 piano heartbreak ballad. It just works.

Shakti – I discovered them via this year’s Grammy Awards. They fuse traditional Indian music with western progressive instrumentation and production elements. I relish diversity in my listening; there’s not a lot I don’t try. I’ve always enjoyed traditional/world music and the rhythms and scales of Indian music in particular are fascinating. The album ‘This Moment’ is a great listen for painting or doing something else creative.

Duxie Franklin’s latest single, Lucky Charm is available now, everywhere.