Stellar Moon is back with her first new music since her debut album, Phases. Released earlier this year, her powerful single, ‘Dark Night’, is an anthem of soulful, groove-infused celebration focused on resilience, renewal, and cultural strength.
The musical incarnation of Nyikina artist Monique Le Lievre from the Kimberley, Stellar Moon is a bold, soulful presence whose work explores freedom of mind, social conditioning, and inherited wounds, all while inspiring deeper connection to self, country and culture, soul singer, funk bringer, sound healer and deep feeler.
Opening with a powerful call in the Nyikina language that echoes throughout the track, ‘Dark Night’ carries an emotional core that is both deeply personal and universally resonant. A tribute to human struggle and a celebration of resilience, the single pairs reggae-influenced rhythms with searing reflections on despair, creating a striking contrast that mirrors life’s inevitable ups and downs.
Vibrant horn lines, party-starting guitar riffs, Hammond organ, tapping sticks and a joyful rhythmic pulse build toward an explosive, celebratory release. Stellar Moon’s warm, aching vocals guide listeners through the shadows before landing on a resonant message of hope: “Rangkarr Marrinyka Yimboolan” — Sunrise is coming.
The single invites listeners to remember how far they’ve come and acknowledge all they’ve survived. Accompanying the release is Stellar Moon’s original artwork, ‘Dark Night’, extending the song’s themes into the visual realm. Created with oil pastels and paint on plywood, the work carries a raw, tactile quality mirroring the emotional honesty of the music.
Despite its title, the artwork bursts with colour. Two small figures sit between personified boab trees, guardians of time, memory and place, overlooking a technicoloured river reflecting a sky in celestial transformation. The scene exists in the liminal space between night and dawn, where grief and hope coexist.
This work marks the beginning of a broader project in which each song from her forthcoming second album will be paired with a visual artwork, with limited edition prints available, creating a multi-sensory record of survival, healing and becoming.
In celebration of the release of Dark Night, we offered Stellar Moon a dozen questions to ponder …
What was the spark that lit your flame for music initially?
I actually can’t remember the flame not being there. I was always singing. I always remembered somewhere in me that music is a part of all humans… When I was 7, I started to learn piano, but didn’t have a piano in our family home in Derby, so my Nana May (Great Aunt in Western kinship) lent us her piano. I was learning classical and realised I could hear pop songs and TV theme songs and work them out on the piano, and I thought, this is fun!
An album or song that had a huge impact on you growing up?
As a kid, I remember lots of different music around me from the Bee Gees to the Beatles, Slim Dusty and Dolly Parton to Cliff Richard… I do remember seeing the Warumpi Band’s album ‘Big Name No Blankets’ on Cassette in my Dad’s shop and listening to that and thinking how cool it was that these countrymen from the top end were ‘famous’.
I also want to mention my brother in law’s song ‘The World’ which my Dad’s band used to cover, and after he (my brother in law) passed away, Dad’s band entered it into a state competition, and it won! That was a special moment. When you come from a remote/rural region, moments like that really mean a lot, as they expand your world.
First concert you ever attended?
Again, growing up so far (over 2000kms) from any cities, my first concert was probably a band who used to come up that far to Derby, I think maybe it was The Angels. Then I remember Baby Animals came to Broome, and I was underage, so we sat in the street listening to them play at the open-air venue, and the first concert I went to in the City was U2 when I was much older.
Which other person has had the biggest influence on your music career?
It takes a village. My Dad doing his thing in his band in our little country town, my partner, who has only ever worked in the music industry and showed me it’s possible to step away from the 9-5 and not to mention all the other support in producing & recording albums, my friends who encouraged me to step up, my Aunty Kankawa who is playing festivals and winning the AMP 2025 at almost 80years old…
What was the main inspiration for your song ‘Dark Night’?
One day, I was thinking about who I used to be… and a bunch of things I’ve been through, and thought, man, we humans, we can go through some crap! In my role as a life coach as well, I am constantly reminded about how courageous humans are, how strong we are to still be standing sometimes, from all the struggles we’ve come through. It’s a celebration of our strength and a reminder that we eventually do get through the ‘Dark Nights’ as ‘Sunrise is (always) coming’.
In general, what’s the starting point for a Stellar Moon song?
It changes, it can be a melody line in my head, it can be a lyric idea or a message I want to convey…Then I find a starting point on an instrument and usually do the music kind of side by side with the lyrics.
What would be your dream collaboration?
I’d love to collaborate with Emma Donovan. I love her, she’s such a great Soul singer! I also think someone like Guy Sebastian… or if we are talking international, maybe Tedeschi Trucks band or Brittany from Alabama Shakes or an act like that….
What would you like your music career to look like in 5 years?
In 5 years, I’d like to have another couple more albums under my belt, be touring nationally and maybe internationally. I’d love to be playing some more high-profile shows and still be able to call the Kimberley home for some of the year.
What would you consider to be the favourite gig you have played so far?
I think that playing the big stage at Nannup Music Festival and closing out Friday night was a lot of Fun!
If money were no issue, what would a Stellar Moon concert look like?
It’d be a 12 piece band with a 4-part horn section and 3 backing vocalists, Drums, Guitar, Bass, Keys, with a choir for some songs (I did that for my Album Launch in Broome!) It’d be under the Moon and stars on a perfect night, on a big stage, I’d be in a tailor made outfit, professional hair & make up, videographers & photographers, an awesome light show and some songs with lower light and the Moon as a backdrop….
An important life lesson someone gave/told you?
All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today. No step forward is too small or too large. There’s no such thing as failure, only feedback. Practising gratitude and giving kindness and compassion is a beautiful foundation to build a beautiful life.
What’s next for Stellar Moon?
I’m hoping to share more of my music on the East Coast next. I’ve been applying like mad to festivals and will look into some tours over there. For right now, I’m in the studio, laying down more new music.
www.moniquelelievremusic.com.au/stellar-moon-music