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Album of the Week: Tash Sultana, 'Terra Firma'

Tash Sultana, 'Terra Firma'
Tash Sultana, 'Terra Firma'Courtesy of Lonely Lands Records
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by Jade and Maddie

March 15, 2021

This week, we're checking out Terra Firma, the new album from Australian Tash Sultana. The album found Sultana on some very firm ground indeed. After a rush from 2014 to 2020 where they were never home for longer than three weeks at a time, the pandemic forced them to stay in one place, and for Tash, that was the studio.

Taking some older songs from their busking days, like "Pretty Lady," and creating new songs with the focus on craft, Terra Firma is a solid collection from the multi-instrumentalist who plays every instrument on the album.

Tash Sultana recently connected with The Current's Maddie in a virtual session to play a few tracks from Terra Firma and to share more details about the making of the album.

Virtual Session

Interview Highlight

MADDIE: This album is called Terra Firma, which is Latin for "firm earth"; how do you feel like that relates to where you're at in your life, career, all of that right now?

TASH SULTANA: I was living a really fast-paced lifestyle from 2014 up until 2020. I was on tour, I was never home for more than three to four weeks at a time. Sometimes I would go away for three months, play, you know, 50 shows, come back, have 10 days off, leave again, go away for another two months. In that time, I'd done four laps around the Earth, and the distance to the moon and back twice. That was my life, living really quick.[…] The world's shut down. So for a moment it was like someone ripped my heart out. I just had to put my hands up in the air and say, "I really accept the fact that I'm not going to play any shows for a really, really long time. The best thing that I can do is put that time into this record." To be honest, it was the best thing I ever did. I put my head back on my shoulders, I slept in my own bed, I ate good food, and I got deep in the creative process and just realized that I am fully and utterly self-validated.

Tash Sultana - official site