Harriette “Hatchie” Pilbeam is making her mark with her music around the world

Since releasing her first track Try online a little over a year ago, Brisbane singer-songwriter Harriette Pilbeam – aka Hatchie – has been riding a wave of worldwide critical praise.

Pilbeam had already experienced musical success – first as a member of her former band Go Violets and also with power-pop four-piece Babaganouj – but admits she was unprepared for the almost instant acclaim she received after releasing Try.

“It was a complete surprise to me,” Pilbeam says. “Even though I’d had success with other bands, you’re right, it had been a very slow burn and we hadn’t really made wave overseas, other than Babaganouj doing shows in Japan, so having stations like (Seattle’s) KEXP playing my music, and websites like Stereogum and Pitchfork and NPR paying attention to it was unexpected.”

Pilbeam has just released Sugar & Spice, her debut EP as Hatchie, and its five tracks veer from the ethereal dream-pop of Try to the more straightforward pop-tinged shimmer of the title track and hook-filled Sure.

Pilbeam wrote Try a few years ago and says it marked a significant shift in her songwriting style and after some encouragement from friends on the Brisbane music scene, she decided to forge ahead with writing songs that didn’t quite fit the mould of her band.

“I couldn’t have imagined Try being a Babaganouj song, not in a negative way, I just thought it deserved its own platform and own world,” she says. “I kind of put it aside and kept working on other music for Babaganouj and working on other songs for Hatchie, then I started writing other songs that matched it more, as well, like Sugar and Spice and Sleep, and it all came together in 2015.”

Part of this shift in Pilbeam’s approach to songwriting involved expressing a openness she had only touched upon in her previous musical endeavours, saying she wanted to explore the emotional vulnerability and ecstasy and recreate the feelings of euphoria she felt when falling in love for the first time.

Producer John Castle, who had previously worked with fellow Brisbane act Cub Sport, and Joe Agius, singer and guitarist of the Creases – who also plays acoustic guitar for Hatchie – helped shape the songs in the studio.

“Joe also happens to be my boyfriend,” Pilbeam says. “We’ve been together for four-and-a-half years and he’s been supportive. We met because we were both in bands, before Hatchie and he pushed me to pursue my own thing because he knew it was something I wanted to do. He’s also the most visually creative person I’ve ever met so I’m so lucky to have been able to work together on all the videos and artwork.

“I got in contact with Joe Castle because I’m friends with the band Cub Sport and when (singer) Tim (Nelson) heard the demo for Try, he said ‘John Castle would be perfect for this, he’d know exactly what you’re going for and he’d be the best’, and he was perfect and brought the best out of all sides of the songs on the EP.”

When U on Sunday catches up with Pilbeam, she’s at the tail-end of her first UK tour, and says she has been blown away by the reception she has received both in the UK and on her recent tour of the US, which included performances at the prestigious South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas.

“Pretty much every show has been at capacity, sold out,” she says. “That’s wild for me; I didn’t think it was going to go like that at all, just because it’s our first time in the UK and I didn’t think anyone would know who Hatchie was. “We’ve met a lot of cool people, both on this tour and in America, and to be able to play with them and becomes friends with them is really beautiful.”

Pilbeam is currently touring with Sydney band DMA’s and next month she will embark on her first Australian solo tour, which has already sold out.

“It’s a bit rougher live than the recordings,” Pilbeam says of her live show, “which is good because I don’t want it sounding too perfect or too similar to the recording, otherwise what’s the point in coming to see it live.”

Hatchie, Sugar & Spice (Ivy League/Mushroom) out now. Hatchie plays Black Bear Lodge, Saturday July 14 (Sold Out)