Phantastic Ferniture

The birth of Phantastic Ferniture was the result of a drunken promise between friends: it soon became apparent that there was something important happening. Fronted by Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin, she explains her desire to create the band: “I’d gone straight into folk music, so every experience I’d had on stage was playing sad music with a guitar in my hand. I thought, I would love to know what it’s like to make people feel good and dance.” For Jacklin, it turns out that “it feels really good. It’s like having an alter ego.”

Jacklin is joined by Elizabeth Hughes on lead guitar, Ryan K Brennan on drums, and Tom Stephens on bass. The band’s first single, Fuckin ‘n’ Rollin, was described by The 405 as “impossibly cool”, and their self-titled debut album “comes close to garage-rock perfection” (Loud and Quiet). As likely to make you dance as shed a tear, this debut is full of Jacklin’s pain-pricked cut-to-the-quick flair, intoxicated by the upbeat instrumentalism of bandmates Hughes and Brennan.

In staying true to the band's ethics, and the spontaneity and passion that birthed it, there’s zero expectations or strict deadlines, save the ones they set for themselves. With a headline tour booked for August and Jacklin’s second solo album looming on the horizon, the group are comfortable to "let things happen naturally".