By James Murphy
Brisbane born, ARIA and National Indigenous Music Award winning folk-soul singer songwriter Thelma Plum has been gracing the Triple J airways for ten years but in in July 2019, she exploded with her debut LP, Better in Blak. The album, with its title track and the similarly anthemic tracks Clumsy Love, Don’t Let A Good Girl Down, Not Angry Anymore and Homecoming Queen, saw Plum rocket to the top 10 of the Hottest 100 countdown in January 2020, just as the music scene, and the world, locked down. After this two-and-a-half-year pandemic enforced hiatus, Plum was back at The Gov for a sell out show where she showcased a new collection of hits off her Meanjin EP, gave a taste of some unreleased tracks and went back to Better in Blak.
Thelma Plum has an enigmatic stage presence: humble yet powerful, self-deprecating yet empowered. She has ditched the acoustic guitar strumming and handed instrumental duties to the tight and accomplished trio of Pete Covington on guitar, Monica Sottile on bass and Dan Williams on drums. Plum and the ebullient Sottile on backing vocals are an energetic tag team, particularly on tracks featuring calls and responses, like ‘Better in Blak’.
Plum’s set list was mostly lifted from Better in Blak and Meanjin, but she did return to her Rosie EP with ‘Dollar’ and her cover of hometown heroes Powderfinger’s ‘These Days’. In the most poignant moment of the evening, during the final phrase of the yet to be released cautionary love song ‘Golden Touch’, Plum broke down in tears. She was fetched a towel from backstage and declared herself a crier. In the song she expressed how she loves too much and can fall the victim of toxic partners with the golden touch. Plum’s capacity to feel too much, though, flows through her music. On ‘Baby Blue Bicycle’, she reminisced about the challenges caused by being raised in a Housing Commission Queenslander, the resilience of her mother, and the community that her mum built so they could get by from day to day. On ‘Homecoming Queen’, the lyrics “in 1967 I wasn’t a human, in 1994 I was born, I’m still here, we’re still here” referencing the 67 referendum evoked a palpable response, as our nation prepares for a new referendum on the Voice to Parliament.

Plum was supported by GRAACE, who was fresh off a Coachella guest spot with Hayden James. Backed by her all-female band, GRAACE combines a captivating stage presence with Julia Jacklin or Phoebe Bridges-esque vocals. Her Like A Version cover of Avril Lavigne’s ‘Complicated’ was a fun dose of nostalgia, while ‘Have At Your Party’ got the crowd dancing. Prior to GRAACE, Jem Cassar-Daly was a warm and natural storyteller as she warmed up the crowd with solo renditions of tracks for her album of this year, I Don’t Know Who To Call.
The Meanjin Tour was a showcase for three fine Australian female singer-songwriters at various stages of their career progression, and the future is bright.
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