PODCAST: Yorke on the release of new EP 'unfinished business': "It is a melting pot of influences and feelings and energy levels, and it's me at my most creatively free."

Interview: Jett Tattersall
Image: Brianna Da Silva

Australian alt-pop artist Yorke today releases her third EP unfinished business and she joins the Women In Pop podcast to chat to Jett Tattersall all about it.

The five tracks on unfinished business see Yorke dive headlong into a more electronic, synthy pure pop sound while still containing glimpses of her alt-indie roots. Created across multiple cities and continents - Australia, Los Angeles, London and New Zealand - it was inspired by love, growth and the embracing of all life has to offer, both the good and the bad, while also leaving a hint of mystery, of a story that is yet to be completed.

“I just wanted to create a fun, dynamic pop project fans could dance to,” Yorke says. “For me, unfinished business feels like the beginning of my creative freedom, and I’ve still got so much more left to give and so much room for growth.”

The EP kicks off with the first single ‘love on the run’, the first taste of this new era of Yorke back in October 2024. It is a pulsing slice of pop with dark and moody undertones that feels like a midnight journey along a deserted highway. The darkness is juxtaposed with a run of sparkling synths in the deconstructed chorus, along with lyrics that explore finding love in unexpected places, even in the middle of a crime spree: ‘I hear the sirens chase / Red and blue lights on my face…I never thought it would be so soon / That I fell in love on the run.’

‘sorry in advance’ is a perky, swinging indie pop track with impossibly sweet melodies which disguise a razor sharp brush off to men wanting her attention. ‘If you’re looking deep into my eyes / You’ll see nothing but stormy skies / Don’t trick yourself to think that you are my type…I’m not gonna save your number / No chance!’

Title track ‘unfinished business’ is a standout on the EP, a swirling, experimental electronic pop song with multi-layered vocals that almost form a call and response chorus. A hypnotic vocal performance from Yorke showcases her range, taking glorious left turns throughout the track. Lyrically, it brings another dark story that details the pain when you realise the one you love is not returning those feeling. ‘Loved you more than anything / I’m sick of coming second,’ Yorke sings before the song ends on a plaintive ‘Damn you’re so cruel.’

‘i wanna hate you’ again looks at relationships, but this time when the connection between you and your best friend falls apart: ‘I don’t know why I still care when you’re not there / I wanna hate you but I don’t sometimes.’ The lyrics are encased in an electronic soundscape that moves from pared back, almost cold, verses before building up into invigorating, beat heavy synth choruses.

The EP closes with ‘the villain’, a gorgeous, melody heavy pop song that moves through multiple sonic episodes which thrill on the first listen. The lyrics flip the script on the previous four songs and this time it is Yorke that is responsible for the relationship breaking down, which she owns up to with devastating honesty. ‘You hate me and it shows / Crushed your heart between my hands…I didn’t perfect it, the art of letting go / I’m the villain / The worst you’ve ever known.’ Yorke delivers a vocal delivery that is notably on a different level from the rest of the EP, injecting a rawness and an almost narrative style to the song that turns it into a mea culpa confession.

After first releasing music in 2019 with ‘Wake This City’, Yorke has consistently proven she is one of Australia’s most promising young pop artists and has grown more assured and confident in her sound with every release. unfinished business is Yorke at her absolute finest, a collection of instantly addictive pop songs expertly produced that stand equal with some of the releases from many of the global greats of her generation, coupled with true storytelling that make each listen an immersive experience. Yorke joined Jett Tattersall on the Women In Pop podcast to chat all about the creation of unfinished business and you can listen now on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all podcast platforms, and also read a brief excerpt below.

Hi Yorke, it is so lovely to chat with you today.
Hello, thank you so much for having me!

And it's so lovely to have you on the release day of unfinished business. It's this gorgeous, dreamy, quick step of a collection. It's a real pick and mix of soundscapes, while at the same time being very much one glorious feminine sound. Talk to me about these songs.
The EP was written over a year in different places, part of it was written in LA, part of it was written in the UK, one song was written in New Zealand, and then a couple in Australia. So it is a melting pot of influences and feelings and energy levels, and it's me at my most creatively free. I'm so excited that it's finally out.

I love that when you say it is you at your most creatively free, can you talk to me more about that?
I started writing this EP on my first US writing trip. I went to LA, and I know that artists are always like ‘I went to LA, and it was amazing’, but it was really life changing for me. I went in with the concepts of the EP, but I got to LA and no one knew who I was, no one knew what I'd done previously, it was like this clean slate where I could just do what ever I wanted. I think I'd been a bit reserved with my love for pop music, but I was like, no, this is this is the place where I can make the pop music and the pop songs that I've always wanted to do. So it allowed me to open up. And that feeling extended throughout the making of the whole EP.

The visuals that are paired with this EP are just so strong. Talk to me a little bit about your visual desires and rabbit holes. Because that must have been a whirlwind of fun!
It was so fun! There's two versions of me, they both have good and bad tendencies and it's that marrying of the grey area, which throughout the whole EP is kind of what it's about. It's about living in that grey area and realising that it doesn't have to be black and white. So we wanted a way to visually represent that. I'm so lucky that my partner is an incredible director, and we have such an incredible creative community around us that we sort of pre planned all the visuals for this rollout for six months prior because we wanted to make it right. It was many Pinterest boards, many late nights, many whiteboard planning sessions of just how to create the Yorke cinematic universe that I'm kind of getting known for with my fans, they love looking for the Easter eggs. And for this EP, everything was meticulously planned for them.

Oh, I love that! Can you tell me one of your favourite little Easter egg moments in the visuals?
We have wanted posters that were scattered throughout the video, but also we did a run of them within Sydney and Melbourne, which was really cool. [They said] ‘Project unfinished business’ and no one knew what unfinished business was.

We also did specific logos that tied in to other songs. I did a newspaper article, and all the words were just lyrics from the songs, and there's this fan group chat that I've been sent screenshots of where they're just analysing every single part of it, like ‘oh, is this lyric from this song? What does this mean?’ They were constantly asking me whether they got it right, and it's definitely why I do it. They get so much joy out of it, and I love being able to provide that and be known for creating that world.

Now, it’s not all just about you going to LA and having a life changing moment in writing, you are also kicking ass in Japan and Korea with your song ‘window shopping’. What do you feel is it about the cinematic universe of Yorke that that is able to transcend that language and culture and be not just accessible, but be devoured and coveted in the East?
Over there, it's hard because they're listening to the song first, where I think a lot of the fans here, are seeing the visuals and the song at the same time. I've had a lot of comments on ‘window shopping’ like ‘this song has helped me learn English’, or ‘this song makes me feel happy’. I think it's the feelings associated with it that are allowing people over there to really connect with it, because it is such a happy, fun, loved up song. I don't really know how or why it took off, but I'm so grateful. it has really changed my life over there. I'm actually heading over there very soon, for the first time, I'm going to Tokyo next week, and I will be going to play some shows..

How do you feel about that? Apart from excited, but I imagine there's a different level of nervousness.
Yeah, I feel like it's just so different to what I know here. I will definitely be out of my comfort zone, because I I don't really know what to expect. I can do as much research as I want, but that has no comparison to the real thing. So there is a degree of nerves. What kind of kicked it off is ‘like in the movies’ from my last EP [ten feet tall]., I kept getting comments on that song on YouTube, like ‘I heard this song at the Indigo la End show’, and I was like, what is an Indigo la End? It turns out it's a really big band over there that we're using ‘like in the movies’ as their song to walk on stage too. They did this massive Japan tour, and at every show they were playing that song as they were walking on stage. I ended up messaging the lead singer and thanking him, and it has ended up to a little bit of a collaboration, and they've invited me to go sing our song at their show in Tokyo. So at least it's not like diving straight into the deep end. I'm going to have a few people around me to navigate it, which is good.

Speaking of unfinished business, what is one of the biggest lessons you've learned navigating the music industry?
Definitely having a team around you that has the same vision, and believes in you 100% is super important. Also just trusting yourself. I think I held myself back a bit prior to this EP, not because I was scared to show what I loved, but there was just no space for it. It's not necessarily a good thing to have done that, but there was a time and a place. I feel now artists are just letting themselves be completely free from the start of their musical journeys, and that is definitely some advice that I would impart on people. Figure out who you are and stick to it.

unfinished business is out now via Island Records Australia. You can download and stream here.
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