Australian duo Belle Roscoe return with new EP Talking To The Walrus and international shows, marking a pivotal chapter after years of industry and personal setbacks
by Paul Cashmere
Belle Roscoe have resurfaced on the global stage with new music and an expanded international schedule, signalling a decisive new phase for the Australian sibling act. The London-based duo of Matty and Julia Gurry will release their forthcoming EP Talking To The Walrus alongside a run of performances across the UK and the United States, following a prolonged period shaped by industry disruption and personal challenges.
The release represents more than a standard return. For Belle Roscoe, it marks the culmination of material recorded across two of America’s most historically significant music hubs, Nashville and Muscle Shoals, and a recalibration of their career after years navigating label instability, lost royalties and the broader collapse of touring during Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the centre of the project is the new single Last Goodbye From New York, a ballad built on the duo’s established vocal interplay and recorded entirely to analogue tape. The track captures a moment of personal transition, framed through Julia Gurry’s experience travelling alone in New York following a relationship breakdown. “The song is ultimately a farewell love letter inspired by personal heartbreak,” she said. “At 4am one morning, I was awoken to the city’s sirens and the sound of snow falling onto the apartments nearby fire escape.”
Musically, the recording leans into restraint and space. The arrangement develops gradually, introducing harmonica textures and layered harmonies that reflect the duo’s long-standing emphasis on live performance dynamics rather than studio construction. That approach aligns with the broader EP, which prioritises immediacy and ensemble playing over digital refinement.
The recordings themselves span multiple sessions. Prior to the pandemic, Belle Roscoe worked in Nashville at The Bomb Shelter with Grammy-winning producer Matt Ross-Spang, alongside musicians associated with The Alabama Shakes and Jason Isbell’s 400 Unit. Rather than release the material during the streaming surge of lockdown, the band elected to hold it back, citing concerns around digital oversaturation.
A later visit to Muscle Shoals in 2025 introduced a second phase. During an impromptu session at FAME Studios, the duo recorded with veteran players including Will McFarlane, Bob “The Swamper” Ray, Chad Gamble and Pete Levin under producer Jimmy Nutt. The session also brought an encounter with bassist Norbert Putnam, a figure closely tied to the legacy of Elvis Presley recordings. For Belle Roscoe, the moment connected their contemporary work to a lineage that has defined recorded music for decades.
Their return arrives with a substantial performance history already established. Across more than ten years, Belle Roscoe have played to audiences exceeding 150,000 in a single year, closed the Cannes Film Festival and represented Australia at World Expos in Dubai and Osaka. Their touring footprint includes headline shows in London, New York and Los Angeles, alongside festival appearances at Isle of Wight and Black Deer. A 24-date tour of Japan in 2025 further extended that reach.
The intervening period, however, exposed structural fragilities within the independent sector. Multiple record deals collapsed due to label liquidations, while international mobility restrictions during Brexit complicated touring logistics for Australia-based artists working in Europe. The pandemic then halted live performance entirely, cutting off a primary revenue stream.
Compounding those pressures, Matty Gurry faced a serious autoimmune illness, forcing a pause at a critical stage of the band’s momentum. Both artists subsequently diversified their work, with Julia Gurry moving into film and television production and completing her first feature in 2025, while Matty expanded into creative direction.
Despite these shifts, the band continued to produce work independently. Their video for Soho Shoes, filmed in an empty London during lockdown and featuring a solitary walrus character moving through deserted streets, became a visual document of the period’s isolation and an example of adaptive creativity under constraint.
For the broader industry, Belle Roscoe’s trajectory reflects a pattern increasingly common among independent artists navigating volatility in funding, distribution and live performance infrastructure. Their decision to delay releases and prioritise analogue recording methods also aligns with a renewed interest in authenticity and sonic texture in a streaming-dominated market.
Looking ahead, the EP Talking To The Walrus consolidates these experiences into a cohesive release. “We didn’t go anywhere, we just had to survive,” Matty Gurry said, framing the project less as a comeback than a continuation.
With new material now rolling out and international performances scheduled, Belle Roscoe re-enter the market with a catalogue that bridges past momentum and present recalibration, positioning the duo for renewed global engagement.
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