- 2026-01-12
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MUSIC
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Howling Bells Releases New Song “Melbourne”
London-based Australian indie rock band Howling Bells, consisting of Juanita Stein (vocals), Joel Stein (guitar) and Glenn Moule (drums), released a new song “Melbourne” on January 9, 2026.
The song is the fourth and final pre-release single from their upcoming fourth studio album “Strange Life”, which is set to be released on February 13, 2026 via Nude Records.
The track is accompanied by the Safiyya Lea-directed music video.
It was written by Glenn Moule, Joel Stein, and Juanita Stein. Produced by Ben Hillier.
The band lead singer Juanita Stein said of the song, “Melbourne is a song about deep yearning and ultimately grief. It explores a unique inner conflict many of us feel when we leave our homes and families to start anew somewhere else. This aching can be especially intense when we’re faced with something traumatic and all we want is the safety and warm embrace of the familiar.”- She continued, “I experienced a heightened version of this when I returned to Melbourne a few years ago to play some shows, having not been back for a while. It felt slightly surreal and tragic being there without any family to share this with, as they had also left Australia over the years. Then, within 24 hours of touchdown, I got a call from a hospital in England telling me that my father, who was ill, had taken a turn for the worse, and so I had to pack up and return to the UK before I’d even played a show. It was brutal. I felt a thousand things that day, from the physical weight of having to lug around 2 huge suitcases full of merch I was planning to unload, to sitting alone in tears at the airport in Singapore during the layover.”
She added, “All these experiences left me with a deep well of sadness and a longing to return to my homeland to find what it is I’d now lost forever. This is something I carry around with me every day. All it takes is the glimmer of the sun at a certain time of day, or the occasional scent of an eucalyptus tree, or the sharp twinge of nostalgia when I hear the melody of a particular song, to remind me of the sadness and beauty that is now my Australia.” -
The new album comprises 11 tracks, which the band recorded with Howling Bells’ long-time friend and collaborator, producer Ben Hillier at his Agricultural Audio Studios.
It is both a vibrant document of and an exploratory testament to this alchemical magic.
Juanita Stein said of the album, “If you're not able to acknowledge the mistakes and the pain and make beautiful music out of it, then they're left festering inside of you. And I don't ever want that to happen.”
Photo by David Titlow - source : Apple Music
