Born in South Africa and now based in Melbourne/Naarm, Ruby Gill is a singer-songwriter who blends the personal and political to create a sound at once intimate and far reaching. From the emotive specificity of ‘Your Mum’ to the lamentation of borders and bureaucracy that is ‘Borderlines’, her music explores big themes from ground level. Allowing human heart into what can otherwise become impersonal, almost theoretical issues.
Latest single ‘You Should Do This for a Living’ follows this style, setting its sights on the overbearing, patronising force of male entitlement. The track is “for anyone who’s had a man change their guitar tone without their permission,” Gill explains, “had their worries ignored because worries aren’t sexy, or had their body convinced to do things that hurt, all in the name of getting ahead.” Again the song arises from a very personal situation but ends up speaking to a far wider experience. “It is a singular story based solely on my own perspective, as all art is,” Gill continues, “But in it are some bigger things that I hope other people will feel seen by. We write the songs we wish we had heard when we were little.”
The track makes good on its themes, with no men involved in any facet of the recording process. From production, engineering and mastering right down to management and photography, there was no male presence, something Gill says not only informed the song but comes across within the sound itself. “That might sound glib, but for many of us, this was the first and only time we’ve been in a studio session without any men,” Gill concludes. “That’s astounding to me. The energy and peace in the room and now in the song was even more astounding. I hear it in the song.”
‘You Should Do This for a Living’ is out now and you can find Ruby Gill on Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp and her website.