Australian alt-indie trio Middle Kids have shared their latest song, “Highlands.” This follows their recent single “Bootleg Firecracker.” It’s second song to be produced by Jonathan Gilmore, has previously worked with The 1975 and Beabadoobee.
Lead singer and songwriter Hannah Joy said of the song: “Since I was young, I’ve had this yearning to be free. In this song I used an image of the ‘highlands’ as a euphoric place where I have the space to be me, and you have the space to be you. Part of the imagery comes from my Scottish heritage, which my grandmother was always so proud of. I recorded some big slow piano chords which Tim mangled into the atmospheric hits in the intro.”
“When we finished the song with Jon Gilmore in the UK he thought it was important that the song felt punky, like a bunch of teenagers practicing in their garage. So, there are these 2 energies fighting it out - the constricted energy of the domestic space and the wide open energy of the highlands. We have a friend who calls this kind of music ‘yearncore’. It’s that impatient energy that says ‘I can’t keep waiting, I need a change’.”
The song is accompanied by the video shot and directed in New South Wales by Toby Morris.
