IKSRE - Refurl (2024)

Hush Hush Records is thrilled to team-up once again with IKSRE – the alias of Melbourne/Naarm-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and professional sound healer Phoebe Dubar – to help present ‘Refurl.’ An expansive reimagining of IKSRE’s debut album ‘Unfurl’ that she independently released in September 2019, ‘Refurl’ celebrates Phoebe’s 5-year anniversary as IKSRE with a communal gathering of the friends, collaborators, and labelmates that’s she made along her journey who contribute their own sublime interpretations of IKSRE’s earliest solo material.

A classically-trained viola player who studied at the Victorian College of the Arts and was lead viola in Melbourne Youth Orchestra for years, Phoebe sang and played in different pop, rock, and funk bands throughout her 20s before launching her solo project IKSRE, an acronym for I Keep Seeing Rainbows Everywhere. The shift was a sonic response to her evolving lifestyle following the birth of her daughter and an increased focus on her daily yoga and meditation practice. Quietly self-released onto digital platforms in September 2019, IKSRE’s debut album ‘Unfurl’ showcased her atmospheric and soothing ambient sound and found an early fan in KEXP DJ and Hush Hush Records founder/curator Alex Ruder. Alex’s early radio support birthed a friendship and eventual partnership that soon led to ‘Transmission,’ IKSRE’s label debut for Hush Hush that featured 10 remixes of songs originally found on IKSRE’s self-released 2020 sophomore album ‘Intermission.’

Since the release of ‘Transmission,’ Phoebe’s IKSRE project has blossomed in blissful fashion. Her third solo album ‘III’ found a home once again on Hush Hush, and she’s gone on to release subsequent solo albums on London’s Lo Recordings and Oakland’s Constellation Tatsu Records. Her enthusiastic communal spirit has also led to collaborative releases with marine eyes (Past Inside the Present), anthéne (Polar Seas), Party Store (Stereoscenic), and Shelf Nunny (Hush Hush). Each release has furthered Phoebe’s organic mission to bring calming, healing, and restorative sounds into the world, leading to an impressive catalog and an evolving network of supportive like-minded artists from all over the globe.

‘Refurl’ is a bit of a full circle moment between IKSRE and Hush Hush. In similar fashion to IKSRE’s label debut ‘Transmission,’ ‘Refurl’ finds the artist and label connecting to help present Phoebe’s music in a new light, this time through the vision of talented musician friends that’s she made over the past few years, as each are now connected through direct collaborations, shared live performances, and/or label affiliations.

Toronto’s anthéne kicks off the release, adding his slow-burning blissful touch to ISKRE’s debut single “Black and Purple.” Fellow Melbourne-based artist Willebrant delivers a lush and glacial take on “7min 6sec” that stretches Phoebe’s ethereal vocals across a vast windswept landscape. Seattle-based artist Shelf Nunny’s woozy, whimsical beats tap into a more pronounced atmospheric and lightly psychedelic realm on his remix of “Tall Roads.” Melbourne’s Clariloops composes a sweeping version of “Crimson,” placing Phoebe’s evocative viola into the forefront and accenting it with her gorgeous clarinet playing. Los Angeles duo awakened souls, aka Cynthia (aka marine eyes) and James Bernard, capture a delicately beautiful balance between chiming ambiance and pulsating arpeggios on “ALONE. AT PARADISE” that surprisingly yields the collection’s most concise rework.

Hush Hush labelmates Tewksbury and Zoltan Fecso kick off the record’s back-half. Tewksbury bleeds together an enveloping wash of heavenly vocals, lonely strings, and the textural layers of a field recording on his hypnotic take of “Black and Purple.” Nearby Melbourne-based artist Zoltan Fecso explores a lightly percolating soundscape that delightfully refuses to stand still. Tacoma’s Party Store supplies the album’s most epic offering, laying out an immersive instrumental spell before summoning Phoebe’s vocals over a transfixing final third. Indianapolis-based musician and Past Inside the Present Records founder zaké closes out the release with an absorbing spin on “way up there I see everything (guuguubarra),” his washed-out droning paint strokes concluding the collection with an air of melancholy, mystery, and beauty.

In addition to ‘Refurl’ being released digitally on October 25th, the album will be released as a special double-cassette alongside ‘Unfurl.’ This 2xCS release marks the first time IKSRE’s debut album ‘Unfurl’ has been released on a physical format.