It’s always special to reconnect with an artist whose journey we’ve been following from the beginning. Back in 2019, the AU review premiered BB Sabina’s debut single, “Feast”, so it’s a genuine thrill, seven years later, to be premiering their new album, Dissolve.
A lot has changed in those intervening years. Singer and songwriter Beth Uhe originally formed BB Sabina in the Northern Territory, recording their debut EP in Mparntwe/Alice Springs before returning to Naarm/Melbourne in 2020. Bassist Warrick Newman and drummer Travis Germaine joined in 2022, with Mark Valentine later joining as a fourth member to help recreate the increasingly expansive sound of the recordings on stage.
Four years in the making, Dissolve is a seven-track exploration of transformation, transcendence and letting go. Shoegaze guitars, atmospheric synths, trip-hop rhythms, and post-rock dynamics collide across a record that shifts, builds, and recedes, painting a magical, ethereal soundscape. From the compact immediacy of “Lentils” to the sprawling 11-minute-plus finale of “Beyond”, Dissolve feels like an album that rewards giving yourself over to it completely. Seven years after we first introduced BB Sabina to the AU review with “Feast”, it’s wonderful to hear just how far that journey has travelled.
Ahead of its release this Thursday, 18th September, we’re delighted to give you an exclusive first listen to Dissolve. Even better, BB Sabina have taken us inside the making of the album with a track-by-track guide. Crank up the volume, press <play> and read on.
BB Sabina – Dissolve – Track by Track
Album overview
Our new album Dissolve explores themes of transformation, transcendence and the act of letting go. Building lush and layered atmospheric landscapes, the album name is an invitation to the listener to sink into and get lost in the music.
We made this entire record as a three-piece, Beth writing everything and then the three of us arranging together. That meant making a lot of noise with very little. Once we started recording, we were able to flesh things out and go crazy with experimentation and layering sounds. This record contains everything from modular synthesisers to rhodes piano to xylophone to clarinet. Hence the need to morph into a four-piece following the recording of the album (with the addition of bassist Mark Valentine), to capture all the sounds on the album live.
We took a DIY approach to recording, with the bulk of the album recorded in Warrick’s home studio – many hours spent in his lounge room, cat purring next to us as we added another weird sound. Recorded across three different spaces, with two different mixing engineers over ~2.5 year period – it’s exciting to finally have it out in the world!
“In between”
“I long to be on the surface, the space in between”
Beth: Conceived during a road trip from Mparntwe/Alice Springs to Garramilla/Darwin. A moment swimming in a remote waterhole provided the track’s central image: a water bug standing effortlessly on the surface, balanced by surface tension. Bringing it to the band really brought the song to life- Warrick and my collaboration on the layered swelling synths. Travis’ drums in the instrumental capture the feeling of letting go. Andy (mix engineer) gave it that sparkle and extra lift off into “the space in between” at the end.
“Multitude”
“A multitude growing, growing, I am not one thing”
Beth: “Multitude” is about how I feel uncomfortable when someone tries to put me in a box, how this can feel so limiting. It explores what it means to contain many facets and contradictions- the beauty and magic of this. A reflection on queerness, gender and beyond.
Warrick: To me, making this song felt like the point everything on the album came into focus. We’d been playing for a few years at this stage and Beth brought it in almost fully formed. The idea for a driving drum beat came from Travis and we toyed around with it so it felt electronic and fluid.
“Memory”
“Looking back on my dreams for the future”
Travis: The poppiest moment on the record, this song really found its flow from the ‘Tame-Impala’ esque synth sounds, and the more laid-back rhythms which are in contrast to the very focused playing on “Multitude”.
“15 years”
“Safety here”
Beth: A quieter moment on the album. We wanted to capture the emotion and organic feeling of playing the song live by taking a different approach to recording this one. Warrick, who also engineered the album, tracked Travis and I in a room together – allowing for the natural ebbs and flows of the song without being held to the rigidness that comes with recording separately and to a metronome.
Warrick: Whilst making this album I was primarily playing bass. One thing I loved about that role was the luxury of recording my bits last, so I could focus on the engineering and production bits. Sometimes that means bass isn’t needed, so I was able to embrace the studio as an instrument, recording synth and whimsical piano lines that dance in the background.
“Haze”
“A wasted day, I am in a haze”
Warrick: This was actually one of the first things Beth, Travis and I played together, but the last on the record to be finished. Structurally it didn’t change much, and I love how wonky and dynamic it feels – plenty of nuances with the instruments coming in and out of focus (like the drum solo!). We put a lot of the instruments through my modular synthesiser, like Beth’s vocals, the clarinet and even Travis’s drums.
“Lentils”
“I want that rough and ready shit, the dirt under my fingernails”
Beth: PJ Harvey/Breeders-esque 2.45 minute album palate cleanser before the final track’s 11.45 minute big finish. It started as a songwriting exercise where I was given the theme lentils. It reminded me of uni days, living off cheap dal, where I would throw myself into life without thinking much about the consequences.
“Beyond”
“You are beyond this”
Beth: “Beyond” is about transcendence. Going beyond the mundane of everyday and experiencing an emotional shift. It started off as a quiet track but when I had the idea of adding fuzz to my guitar and brought this to the band it completely transformed – giving Sonic Youth and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Travis: Post-rock influences really come to the fore in the “Beyond” instrumental outro. The basis of the outro was recorded in a single take which is a great reflection of the fluidity in how we play this live. It morphs based on the vibe in the room.
BB Sabina will launch the album at Melbourne’s Merri Creek Tavern on Friday, 9th October, with support from Nausicaa. Grab yourself a ticket HERE and support live music.
Dissolve is released Thursday, 18th September. You can pre-save it, and order vinyl HERE.
You can give BB Sabina a follow on Instagram, Facebook, Bandcamp, Spotify and Apple Music
Photo credit: Young Ha Kim
