NEW MUSIC: ALICE COTTON

TRACK TITLE: COMING HOME

SINGLE RELEASE DATE: FRIDAY 3 FEBRUARY

LABEL: INDEPENDENT / DITTO

DOWNLOAD ‘COMING HOME’ AUDIO + ARTWORK + PRESS SHOTS

painting of green and blue textures, with text 'Alice Cotton Coming Home' — Coming Home, track artwork (inset) by Callum Elliot

Straight outta Darwin, queer indie artist Alice Cotton reveals ‘Coming Home’ produced by Nick Huggins, a sprawling country song delivered with heart.

+ debut EP release mid-2023

+ ‘Coming Home’ launch show 12 February, Larrakia country (Darwin)

+ Lyric video out Feb 3

Listen to Coming Home

“Cotton has the quality that Paul Kelly and Stella Donnelly have whereby it seemingly feels like she’s narrating the mundane moment in life and relationships that we’ve all been through and then – POW – you’re hit with the depth and breadth of her storytelling” – Nkechi Anele, triple j

‘Coming Home’ is a sprawling country song from Northern Territory queer alternative artist Alice Cotton and was produced by Nick Huggins.

Ahead of the release of her much-anticipated debut EP, Darwin alternative artist Alice Cotton is thrilled to release the second single ‘Coming Home’, a homage to the bizarre return of a missing family dog. Fresh off a top 10 placement in ABC NT’s Territory Sounds Countdown (‘22), a write-up in Qantas Magazine, an opening slot for The Audreys, and a finalist placement for the inaugural Australian Folk Music Awards (‘21), Cotton is carving up the country’s regional music scene with her warm tones and off-kilter blend of folk, alt-country and indie-rock.

Cotton has a national reach, bringing together a slew of Aussie music legends for the second single, ‘Coming Home’. A collaborative track with industry heavy-weights Nick Huggins (Alice Skye, Jen Cloher) and Holly Thomas (Quivers, HUSKY) ‘Coming Home’, is woozy country music delivered with heart.

Cotton explains “Our dog was so old when she went missing, we thought she must have run away to die, like old dogs do. I was worried she had taken herself to the beach and a croc had finally gotten her. I went through the 5 stages of grief, even had a black and white photo of her framed. 14 months later my sister was walking a different route home, and happened to come across Crumpet in the street, looking very round and confused. We have no idea what she did for those 14 months. It’s probably fair enough that she wanted a gap year from the Cottons. Finding her was the best day of my life.

When she came back from the dead, so to speak, the joy of the reunion blurred with grief over the childhood loss of my mum. We got Crumpet 6 months before my mum died, so Crumpet felt like a last tangible link to my childhood when mum was alive”.

Emanating Nick Huggins’ renowned slow-paced and dreamy sound, ‘Coming Home’ was recorded live with minimal overdubs, capturing a great live band vibe with Cotton’s characteristic vocals. This style of recording provided a sweet relief for Cotton whose previous singles were painstakingly recorded over several months via email and cloud folders thanks to the pandemic.

The first of these remote recordings, Cotton’s debut single ‘Sleeping Dogs’ and accompanying Auslan-interpreted film-clip garnered strong radio play including a triple j premiere and a finalist nomination for the 2021 Fist Full of Film’s Music Video Award.

“Cotton pens a beautifully tender and emotive track inviting us into her reflection” - Tone Deaf, on 'Sleeping Dogs'

Her follow-up single ‘You Drive a Hilux’ , paired with an outback NT tour, continued to gather strong community radio and audience support, listed twice in Tone Deaf as top Australian music picks for community radio and added on high-rotation to SYN FM, as well as play across double j, PBS FM, and a feature on Brian Nankervis (RocKwiz)’s national ABC radio show Songs and Stories.

DOWNLOAD ‘COMING HOME’ AUDIO + ARTWORK

Born and raised in the tropical north of Australia, Alice Cotton would write songs as a child about her everyday world; mouldy pillows and fly-screen doors. She left for Melbourne to study classical music, and then, a Masters of Music Therapy. Cotton returned home to the NT seven years later and embedded herself in community, running a pub choir through Big Community Sing!, performing at Darwin Festival, and producing sell-out LGBTQIA+ events for Darwin Fringe Festival.

And it’s not just about her own music. The community-minded artist was the recent recipient of an Arts Access Award, commending for her work providing professional development and creative performance workshops for disabled and neuro-diverse musicians in Darwin.

Cotton is spending 2023 releasing singles off the EP (supported by ArtsNT) backed by a national tour with a run of regional shows from late 2023. Locally, you can catch Cotton co-writing with award-winning folk-country artist Dave Garnham, or playing in post-punk feminist outfit The Ovulators.

“A Territory hit”

NT News

“Sweeping, intimate, melancholy vibes”

FROOTY Magazine, on Sleeping Dogs

“Alice has delivered a song that resonates with NT nostalgia”

Tone Deaf, on You Drive a Hilux

“a nuanced way of viewing the world has clearly produced an artist and performer of rare qualities ... Alice’s approach is insightful”

Foldback Media