On the outset, Stella Donnelly’s inclusion in Australian Guitar #150 might seem controversial – there’s not a lot of guitar on her long-awaited second album, Flood. It’s instead mostly steered by the sharp, glassy chords of a grand piano and the atmospheric flowerings of twinkly synth-work. We’ll admit it was quite polarising to hear for the first time: ‘til now, Donnelly has always been a shredder at heart, flourishing her records with passages of noodling that masterfully showed off her fretting dexterity.
Without guitars to navigate her course, though, Donnelly was freed to explore an expansive depth of new musicality. Over 11 kaleidoscopic cuts, sees the Perthian songster truly embrace the pastel prettiness of dream-pop, the warming richness of a slow-burning piano ballad, and the mystifying gravitas of minimalist folk. And where Donnelly does utilise the guitar, she does so with enrapturing intent, with every tingly, twangy note cutting deep into the soul. was Donnelly’s introduction to the world, is her notice of intent to take over it.
