New Music: Fortitude Valley – Sunshine State

After five years, Durham – by way of Queensland – indie rockers Fortitude Valley return with a new album and an appropriately sunny video for new single Sunshine State.

I originally read Sunshine State as a song meditating on the vagaries of relationships, as vocalist and songwriter Laura Kovic repeats the refrain ‘My heart was never in it” as if to a paramour who was loved, but not deeply.

And while the song works like that, it turns out to be more about a place than a person, because those ties often also bind – but can easily fray to breaking point.

Musically, the track will appeal to fans of Alvvays and The Beths, but there’s also a hint of psychedelia reminiscent of The Paisley Underground that shifts Sunshine State away from what you might expect from those comparisons.

Kovic comments on the track: “Lyrically, the song is about moving away from Australia and dealing with those feelings. I found some old journals from when I was a teenager, and they made me reflect on how much I’d changed as a person.”

“There were things about myself that I’d forgotten, but it was clear how much I’d always wanted to move to the UK. I was so keen to get away! From such a beautiful place! So, the song is like, I’m going back to the Sunshine State to find my younger, more melodramatic self and catch up with her.”

Sunshine State will feature on Part Of The Problem, Baby, which comes out on the 1st of August via Specialist Subject Records. The album is up for pre-order on Bandcamp, with the limited-edition pink vinyl version already close to selling out. For album news, be sure to hit the follow button on Fortitude Valley’s Facebook, Instagram, and BlueSky socials.