Sarah Mary Chadwick - Hit & Miss (2014)

Sarah Mary Chadwick just shared a new album – sort of. Released via Bandcamp yesterday, Hit and Miss collects 16 B-sides and demos from between 2012 and 2014.

It’s the first album-length new material from the former Batrider frontwoman since 2012’s debut solo LP Eating For Two, which M+N reviewer Max Easton described as “a devastating listen.” Now based in Melbourne, the NZ native contributed four illustrations for Adam Curley’s short story ‘Silence’, which we debuted back in June.

As is to be expected, Hit and Miss hinges on Chadwick’s trademark gravelly vocals and brutally honest mapping of failed relationships. And as with most demos, a lot of it is quite threadbare and hushed – as if recorded almost in secret. ‘Sickles and Scythes’ sees her harmonise with herself over spare acoustic guitar, while ‘Phantasy’ gets warmed by low-key drum machine and keyboards and ‘If I Could’ stretches to nearly eight minutes of simmering emotional release.

Sharing the upload on Facebook, Chadwick said it’s not to be confused with a second proper album due out in February next year. Hit and Miss is up for $7 download now.