''Budjerah'' is the debut

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) by Australian singer-songwriter Budjerah. It was released for digital download and

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on 26 March 2021 by

Warner Music Australia Warner Music Australia Pty Limited (WMA) is the Australian division of the Warner Music Group. WMA also distributes in New Zealand. History In 1969, Warner Bros. Records branched out and WEA was born. The first country in which it was estab ...

. On 27 August 2021, a special edition of the EP was released on CD, which included the four tracks from ''Budjerah'' and four new tracks. Follow its physical release, the EP debuted at number 72 on the

ARIA Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. At the 2021 ARIA Music Awards, the EP was nominated for Best Soul/R&B Release and Breakthrough Artist - Release. Budjerah was nominated for Best Artist while Matt Corby and Chris Collins received nominations in

ARIA Award for Producer of the Year The ARIA Music Award for Producer of the Year, is an award presented within the Artisan Awards at the annual ARIA Music Awards. The ARIA Awards recognise "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", and have been given by t ...

and Engineer of the Year for their work on this release.

Background and release

In September 2019, Budjerah uploaded the song "River Dry" onto

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

Unearthed. Throughout 2020, Budjerah was mentored by Matt Corby and together, worked on the forthcoming EP Its debut single, "Missing You", was released on 28 October 2020 which Budjerah said "...is really about my love for people. I recently left school to work on music, and I found myself really missing my friends and being around people so much. I don't think this year has really helped these feelings much and I think everyone is really wanting to go out with their friends and see their families as well." On 19 February 2021, Budjerah released "Higher", which he said "... is about having fun and when you're so happy you don't have any stress or worries, you're just having a good time, kinda like when you go to a party or when you go to see someone special. That's what it feels like." On 26 March 2021, ''Budjerah'' was released. At the same time,

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picked Budjerah as it local "Up Next" artist. On 14 May 2021, a second EP, ''Budjerah (Live at Rainbow Valley)'' was released, containing a live rendition of each of the previous EPs' four tracks, with guest vocalists. The EP was recorded at mentor Matt Corby's titular studio. In a statement, Budjerah said "The original idea for this project was just do a live version of 'Missing You' and have Matt Corby be a feature. But I started to think more on it and I thought 'Why don't we do the whole EP and get a different person to feature on each song?'." In August 2021, ''Budjerah'' was released on CD, featuring four additional tracks not on the original EP. The physical artwork cover was painted by Budjerah's uncle. The EP debuted at number 72 on the

for the week commencing 6 September 2021.

Critical reception

Manning Patston from ''Happy Mag'' said: "Surrounded by music and gospel singing from a young age, Budjerah's ear for melody is so accomplished that you'll be left awed and helplessly humbled. The four-tracks from Budjerah showcase his impossibly angelic timbre and vocal dexterity, as well as tasteful piano, spirited percussion and guitar-chops." ''

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'' called the EP an "astonishingly good debut" saying "(Matt Corby and Budjerah together have) sculpted an EP that takes influences from

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

future soul Future soul is a term often used by UK singer-songwriter Daley in the 2010s to describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contemporary R&B. Although both soulful and conscious, future soul is distinguished from neo soul as it infuses mo ...

and R&B and pop. Corby's production is light, making room for Budjerah's formidable pipes to come soaring through the instrumentation."

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from the EP's

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. *

Budjerah Slabb Budjerah Slabb, known mononymous person, mononymously as Budjerah, is an Aboriginal Australian singer-songwriter from Fingal Head, New South Wales. He is a Coodjinburra man from the Bundjalung people, Bundjalung nation. His debut single "Mis ...

– writing, vocals Other musicians *

Matt Corby Matthew John Corby (born 7 November 1990) is an Australian singer-songwriter. He achieved his commercial breakthrough with his fourth EP, '' Into the Flame'' (2011), which peaked at No. 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and by April 2012, was ce ...

– writing, production * Mikaelin "Blue" Bluespruce – mixing * Andrei Eremin – mastering

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2021 debut EPs ARIA Award-winning albums Budjerah EPs Albums produced by Matt Corby Warner Music Australia EPs