01/09/2026
EWAH
SPIRITUAL DANCE
13aug26 Album
Release Information
EWAH unexpectedly recorded the album SPIRITUAL DANCE while she was artist in residence at Assembly 197 dance studio in Launceston, Lutruwita/Tasmania.
In 2023 EWAH approached an artist residency thinking she’d write a soundtrack to an imaginary movie, however once embedded in this location a thematic body of music emerged spontaneously. She set herself a challenge to write a song a day and it soon became clear the work was a response to her 2011 album GOSPEL DANCE.
SPIRITUAL DANCE is a teenage odyssey told through music. Written, performed and recorded in a dance studio while living onsite at Assembly 197, the music responds to the room and sounds seeping in from outside - doof music from passing cars doing “blockies”, ambulance sirens from the nearby hospital, muffled music through walls and youth rehearsing in the studio. The location also taps into memories of formative years spent in Launceston as a teenager.
The album traverses influences as diverse as psychedelia, Indian raga, swampy soul, Italian disco and punk squall. It also samples and integrates sounds from the space; blinking fluorescent globes, a heater jingle and ambulances. During the residency EWAH had arrhythmia and co-opted a broken metronome to portray this lopsided beat on the record. When recording the closing track Electricity, her heartbeat normalised after a month of wonkiness.
FEATURE TRACKS:
DO W*P BOP
WHERE I HEAR THE MUSIC PLAY
* SEE SEPARATE RELEASE "SPIRITUAL DANCE (SINGLE VERSION)"
EWAH BIO:
Ethereal. Intimate. Expansive. EWAH's work continues to look forward exploring different approaches to songwriting. Her music has traversed porch blues, noir rock, alt-country, electro, art-pop, world and experimental.
Perhaps best known fronting fourpiece EWAH & The Vision of Paradise, her practice crosses discipline from acting and writing to filmmaking, creative collaborations, leading workshops and scoring for screen.