Daily Dose: Tash Sultana, “Free Mind”
Images courtesy of the artist, Mom + Pop Music
Daily Dose is your daily source for the song you absolutely, positively need to hear every day. Curated by the Paste Music Team.
We named Tash Sultana one of the Best of What’s Next in 2017, and now the Australian singer-songwriter’s first album is almost here. Flow State is due out Aug. 31 and follows the 2016 EP Notion.
“Free Mind” is the latest look into Sultana’s forthcoming record and follows two previous releases from it, “Salvation” and “Harvest Love.” “Free Mind” is also a peek into Sultana’s mind: “When will my mind be free from all the chains that hold me down,” the singer asks in a hushed voice. The dimensionality given to the chorus through the multiple layers of Sultana’s voice further tangles you in with Sultana’s thoughts, and the record is all Sultana—playing every one of the 15 instruments and sounds on Flow State, including saxophone and pan flute, in addition to writing and producing the whole record, Sultana has crafted an album that is by nature intimate. “Free Mind,” then, with its unusual phrasing and sparkling guitar, feels even closer to Sultana, who’s singing, “Why don’t you suffocate my dreams.” The song also pulls in interesting sensory experiences—focusing on scents with almost equal weight as visuals, mentioning cinnamon, honeysuckle and vanilla, Sultana shapes a full scene around you.
”’Free Mind’ was a song written over a couple of years,” Sultana said. “It was pretty much three different songs that I couldn’t figure out how to put together until one day when I was in the studio it kind of just fell into place.”
In this song Sultana seeks a free mind, but also finds musical liberation. A typical song from Sultana is longer than the 3:25 track that is “Free Mind”—every song on Notion is over four minutes, and a six-minute track isn’t out of character. Sultana said writing a song as short as “Free Mind” was “super challenging,” but that the song expressed everything it needed to say.
Listen to “Free Mind” below and find the tracklist for Flow State beneath that, plus Sultana’s tour dates further down. You can preorder Flow State here.