We wonder where we fit
It’s a long way from the Macleay
To the banks of Colombo Harbour
Another mongrel coming through
What am I to you?
There is a weight one carries, not in the hands but in the marrow; a heaviness born before breath, pressed into the bones by the machinery of empire. To grow up in a colonial world is to walk among ruins built on the backs of others, to drink from wells dug by hands long vanished, to inherit comforts stitched with invisible suffering. History is not past; it is a presence, a shadow cast across every field, every street, every quiet morning. It is the knowledge that one’s ease rests on another’s erasure, that the soil itself bears the memory of blood. Reckoning does not cleanse; it exposes. And in that exposure, a question gnaws: how to stand upright while history’s weight bears down, how to move forward without forgetting who paid the price.
Postcolonial Blues is a serrated hymn from Sydney’s Second Idol, torn from the marrow of memory and set alight by the breath of reckoning. Drums roll like distant thunder across scorched plains, guitars scream with salt and steel, while Kate Farquharson: vocalist, lyricist, and firebrand, bares her teeth and soul. Born of Sri Lankan and Scottish blood, raised under wide country skies in New South Wales, she spits the struggle of straddling empires, of calling colonised land “home” with a tongue tied in history’s knots. The song gnaws at the bones of belonging, rakes through the ruins of empire, and beats with the bruised heart of a land never ceded. This is no balm, but a howl—a dirge for dispossession, a dirge for the displaced. From postcolonial prose to lived pain, Postcolonial Blues bleeds with the burden of inheritance, asking who we are, and whose we are, beneath the weight of all that was stolen.
“When I began riffing and writing this song I was staring at an old photograph of my Aunt and my Grandfather in Colombo, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), and I began thinking about my existence, that my family lineage is a result of colonialism,” says Farquharson. “I was inspired, in part, by my prior study of postcolonial literature and authors such as Michael Ondaatje and Shani Mootoo…Postcolonial Blues is a contemplation of my upbringing in the country town of Kempsey, NSW on Dunghutti land, and my personal experiences growing up in a cross-cultural household…It contemplates the racism I experienced and observed in my hometown and the tensions and fractures that continue to exist. This song is me trying to make sense of my place in the world and how I reconcile calling Australia home. My family tree and my existence are born from colonialism, and as a postcolonial being, I question how I navigate this world and where I feel that I belong.”
Wound tight within Postcolonial Blues is a lineage layered and unquiet: the bloodlines of displacement, diaspora, and defiance running throughout. Second Idol’s strength lies in this convergence: Kate, bearing Sri Lankan and Scottish scars; Afeef Iqbal behind the drums, of Pakistani descent; Sunny Josan slicing guitar strings, with Palestinian and Indian roots. Each carries centuries of migration and memory, stitched into the song’s sinew. Their sound strikes sharp, recalling Placebo, the brooding weight of Interpol, the raw nerve of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the existentialism of Midnight Oil. But beneath the noise hums something heavier: a reckoning, a reclamation.
Accompanying the release is the music video directed by Throat Pasta (Mitchell Farkas), shot in Manly Dam in Eora/Sydney’s Northern Beaches. The clip is a visual representation of the immigration experience of being uprooted and seeking connection in a new environment. “The approach in this clip was Australian Gothic,” the band explains.
“We pitched two key inspirations, Peter Weir‘s Australian classic, ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock‘, and Depeche Mode‘s ‘Enjoy The Silence‘. We wanted to encapsulate a feeling of claustrophobia in the natural environment and environmental horror. The ritual that Kate engages within the clip is reminiscent of Celtic clootie wells – an attempt to reconcile with nature. The analogue effects employed by Mitch Farkas, the glitches and the distortion are representative of a loss of culture and memory, and the erosion and warping of identity.”
Watch the video for “Postcolonial Blues” below:
Postcolonial Blues was produced/Mixed/Mastered by Clayton Segelov (Shady Nasty, Sleepmakeswaves), Postcolonial Blues is from Second Idol’s forthcoming album Mongrel which is due for release in mid-2025.
Second Idol is known for their impassioned performances drenched in venom and melancholy, unleashing a fusion of alternative rock, goth, grunge and post-punk influences. Informed by feminism, queerness and cross-cultural identity, the band transverses concepts of power, gender and otherness. The band has shared stages with Baxter Dury (UK) at Vivid Sydney 2022, Jen Cloher, Arse, Cry Club, dust, Battlesnake, Teenage Joans, Grinding Eyes, Wolf & Cub, Harry Howard and the NDE.
Listen to Postcolonial Blues below and order here.
Their Sydney single launch doubles as a lifeline, raising funds for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), tying their art to action, their stage to solidarity.
- Sat 29 March, Bootleggers (Kelly’s on King), Newtown, Sydney with The Allmother, Bodywire
Fundraiser for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) here.
Tickets available here.
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