In conversation with Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips, singer songwriter Anna Smyrk opens up about the long and emotionally charged journey behind her debut album Spectacular Denial, describing the period between finishing the record and its release as a strange “twilight zone” where the work exists as a kind of private secret. Written over several years and completed more than a year before its release, the album slowly took shape through a series of singles before finally arriving as a complete body of work.
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At its core, Spectacular Denial is deeply rooted in grief, written largely in the aftermath of the sudden loss of Smyrk’s father. She explains that the title reflects a unifying theme across the record, an exploration of denial in its many forms. For a time, she found herself unable to write at all, but when the songs eventually came, they centred on emotional numbness and the struggle to process loss. Rather than presenting a linear journey, the album captures shifting phases of grief moments of darkness, detachment, and gradual re-emergence, balanced by flashes of light and hope, an idea echoed in the record’s tonal range from intimate folk ballads to grungier tracks.
That emotional arc is reflected in the album’s structure. Opening track “Skin Thinner” sets a tone of tentative optimism, signalling a desire to reconnect and feel again, while the closing song “I Don’t Believe in Heaven” serves as a quiet, deeply personal tribute to her father. Smyrk intentionally leaves the studio ambience intact on the final track, creating an intimate, almost documentary-like ending that places the listener in the room. The record’s closing stretch, including “Line by Line,” emphasises endurance and taking life moment by moment, reinforcing a sense of “sad hopefulness” that bookends the album.
The recording process itself, guided by producer Anna Laverty, was highly collaborative and intentionally unhurried. Smyrk credits Laverty’s patience and openness for allowing the songs’ emotional weight to be fully realised, with experimentation, such as the distorted vocals on “The Future Conditional”, pushing her sound into new territory. Much of the album was recorded live with the band, contributing to its organic feel, while certain tracks were built more gradually in the studio.
Musically and creatively, Smyrk draws on a wide lineage of influences, from classic singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, through to more contemporary and alternative voices such as Alanis Morissette and Regina Spektor. These influences underpin her focus on storytelling, emotional intensity and occasional sonic experimentation, all of which surface throughout Spectacular Denial.
Beyond the record itself, Smyrk is rethinking how music connects with audiences. In response to the challenges of cutting through digitally and the rising costs of touring, she has launched the album through a series of intimate performances in community gardens across Australia. These shows, inspired by the healing power of music, nature and community, offer a more personal and direct connection with listeners, something she sees as increasingly vital in a crowded and algorithm-driven music landscape.
Smyrk hopes Spectacular Denial provides listeners with space to feel, to sit with grief, loss and change in a way that can often be avoided in everyday life. As she’s discovered through performing the songs live, the music has already begun to foster moments of shared understanding and connection, allowing audiences to process their own experiences while feeling less alone.
Spectacular Denial is out on Friday 20 March via Community Music + Bandcamp
Spectacular Denial Tracklist:
1. Skin Thinner
2. Garden-Variety Grief
3. This is a Drill
4. Sit Down in My Shadow
5. The Future Conditional
6. Keep Up is Bringing Me Down
7. Crying in an Internet Cafe
8. See It Everywhere
9. This is Going to Get Worse
10. Line by Line
11. I Don’t Believe in Heaven
Anna Smyrk Upcoming Shows:
Saturday 21 March
Joe’s Market Garden, Coburg
10 am
Sunday 22 March
Yiiro Community Garden, Euroa, VIC
2 pm
Wednesday 25 March
Addi Road Community Garden Marrickville, NSW
6 pm
Thursday 26 March
HUM Records, Newtown, NSW
6:30 pm
Saturday 28 March
Inner West Sustainability Hub, Summer Hill, NSW
12 pm
Friday 10 April
Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville, NSW
Special Guests Tamara & the Dreams + Safety First
Tickets
Saturday 11 April
Can You Keep A Secret?, Woolloongabba, QLD
Special Guest Chelsea Costar
2:30 pm
Tickets
Saturday 2 May
Northcote Social Club, Northcote, VIC
Special Guests Kit Genesis + Georgia Fields
8 pm
Tickets
Tickets on sale now www.annasmyrk.com/tour