Eilish Gilligan on musical theatre, comical illnesses, and the importance of being humble
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09.08.2018

Eilish Gilligan on musical theatre, comical illnesses, and the importance of being humble

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Words by Zachary Snowdon Smith

Frida frontwoman Eilish Gilligan is striking out on her own, with a string of solo tour dates and a pop-yet-pensive new single.

“I really love the collaborative nature of playing in a band,” Gilligan says. “I find it intensely satisfying. But I feel like the universe is telling me to do my own thing at the moment, and I think I should listen.”

Recorded with the help of Gab Strum of Japanese Wallpaper and Max Dowling of Tetrahedra, ‘Patterns’ paints a mood of uncomfortable introspection with smooth, full-toned synths.

“My theory is that everything you’ve ever felt, good or bad, has been felt by somebody before a million times over, and will be felt a million times again,” Gilligan says. “It’s important for us to be humble and to be reminded of that. That’s what I’m always working towards.”

Gilligan spent June touring Australia with Mallrat and will now join electronic artist Woodes and hip hop vocalist Poppy Rose onstage for Live N Local. The event is organised by FReeZA, a youth development initiative by the state government.

“I’ve always said that playing live is the thing that I love the most, besides actually writing the songs,” Gilligan says. “There’s something so intensely gratifying in the moment with playing live, especially now that I can look out and see people singing the words to my songs. That’s an unbelievable feeling, I’ll never forget the first time that happened.

“Something that I really try to foster is that real connection between the artist and the audience. You have to be vulnerable to make genuine connections to people. I hope people take away a willingness to be vulnerable, and connect with that vulnerability.”

Gilligan currently divides time between Frida, her solo projects, and her day jobs as a music publicist and a primary school piano teacher.

“Time’s a very precious thing at the moment,” Gilligan says. “When I get to have a day in the studio, it feels like such a luxury. I love the studio. I love the tranquility of it. I love the intensity of it.”

Gilligan’s interest in musicianship started not at a rock concert, but at her high school’s production of Les Misérables. She recalls watching Jordan White – who would go on to create electronic music project Braille Face – perform the climactic song ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’.

“I will never, ever forget it,” Gilligan says. “I can still see it so clearly in my head now. It was like the penny dropped. I knew I wanted it so bad. I wanted to be there on the stage. I want to be there, sitting in that chair, singing that song, doing exactly what he was doing and doing just as good a job.”

Moving from Les Mis to Jesus Christ Superstar and other musicals, Gilligan soon realised she was more of a single threat than a triple threat. “I was very set on the idea that I was going to be a musical theatre ingénue, but seeing as I can’t dance or act to save myself, that was a very short-lived dream,” she laughs.

Gilligan’s theatre experiences helped her acquire a flair for the dramatic, but she’s no prima donna. She recalls playing the 2018 Changes festival while suffering from a throat infection and conjunctivitis in both eyes.

“I never, ever get sick, but, somehow, that week just hit me,” she says. “I looked absolutely insane – comically unwell. I’ve never seen my eyes so bloodshot in my entire life.”

After Live N Local, Gilligan will be heading back to the studio to record yet another single, slated to drop in November, followed by an EP around the start of 2019. Whether Gilligan’s flock of singles will go into an album remains an open question. Working independently gives her the chance to experiment and improvise, producing carefully balanced singles like ‘Patterns’ after extensive in-studio trial and error.

“Because I’m self-managed and independent, there’s no one breathing down my neck, being like, ‘Eilish, you’ve got to deliver an EP by this time,’” she says. “I find that very liberating and exciting.”