Camp 8 Drops Absolute Chills With Barbie/Shudder Split Release

There’s a simple formula for making me find the repeat button on any song. It’s spacious piano, a deep emotive vocal and an all consuming swell that builds and breaks throughout the course of a song. It’s simplicity stretched and it always seems to stop me in my tracks; today Camp 8 has done just that. Twice.

From the moment the moody vocal of Melbourne songwriter Reuben Apirana, makes itself known on latest single Barbie I am entirely arrested. The earnestness of Apirana’s voice creates an instant envelopment of its listener; it is warm, interesting and pure. The kind of voice that could transform a phone-book to a hymn. Yet, Barbie as a song and Camp 8 as a songwriter don’t rest of the laurels of this voice, instead using it as the foundation for crafting something truly special.

Over the course of just over three minutes, Barbie, builds, swells and pushes itself to places unexpected. Pounding tom drums, bright keys and a soft touch of brass spiral and intertwine within each other as an increasingly daunting soundscape mounts to an epic finish. Barbie is a brilliant ballad of catharsis, forgiveness and the release of anger.

Second single of the split release Shudder is a simple stunner that showcases further an incredibly sincere songwriter shining on the cusp of their career. Shudder is built on soft sounds being played off against Apirana’s lead vocal leaping to glorious heights. It’s a song that manages to show off whilst remaining remarkably humble.

Two days ago I hadn’t heard a Camp 8 song. Today I can easily say I have listened to both songs on the split release a dozen times a piece without tiring or wanting to turn off. A remarkable songwriter that echoes sounds of Bon Iver and N.Y.C.K whilst standing tall entirely on their own. Camp 8 is chillingly good.