Australian folk artist Leah Senior has announced her fifth studio album Pt. Roadknight, introducing the record with the new single Mothersong and a whimsical music video filmed on Victoria’s surf coast.
by Paul Cashmere
Australian folk songwriter Leah Senior has unveiled details of her upcoming fifth studio album Pt. Roadknight, set for release on June 19, alongside the first single from the project, Mothersong. The new song arrives with a playful music video created on the Victorian coastline, offering the first glimpse into Senior’s latest body of work and signalling a new chapter in her career.
The album will be Senior’s first release through Third Eye Stimuli in Australia and Spinster in the United States, marking a fresh label partnership for the Victorian musician. Pt. Roadknight continues the introspective songwriting that has defined Senior’s catalogue, drawing inspiration from the coastal town where she lives while reflecting on contemporary themes including gentrification, isolation and community.
Senior’s announcement centres on Mothersong, the opening track from Pt. Roadknight. Built around acoustic guitar riffs reminiscent of classic British folk recordings of the 1970s, the song also incorporates flute flourishes and layered harmonies between Senior and her sister Andi Senior. The track was written with longtime collaborator Jesse Williams, who has worked closely with Senior across several projects.
For Senior, Pt. Roadknight represents both continuity and evolution. Over the past decade she has emerged as one of the most distinctive voices in Australian contemporary folk, building a global audience through touring and a series of critically recognised albums. The new record places her songwriting within a distinctly Australian landscape while continuing the baroque folk textures that have become her signature.
The album title references Roadknight, a stretch of coastline near Anglesea on Victoria’s Surf Coast. The environment has become central to the album’s mood and lyrical perspective, with Senior drawing on the quiet rhythms of coastal life while reflecting on broader social changes affecting regional communities.
Mothersong began as a response to a personal moment in a friend’s life. Senior and Williams wrote the track to help ease the anxieties of a friend preparing to become a mother. Musically the pair aimed to craft a spirited folk rock composition that would endure in live performance.
Senior explained that traditional folk recordings were a starting point during the writing process.
“I had been singing The Murder Of Maria Martin by Shirley Collins and The Albion Band, which is a terrifically fired up version of a folk ballad, and I wanted to do something in a similar vein,” she said.
The arrangement evolved from piano melodies before Williams added the guitar motif that drives the track. “I feel like there aren’t enough rockin’ folk songs about motherhood,” Senior said. “Originally I came up with the melodies on piano and then Jesse wrote the guitar riff which really makes the song.”
The accompanying music video expands on the song’s ritualistic themes. Directed by Senior and filmed by Creepy Baby Productions, the clip places the musician and her band in Victorian nursery costumes while staging a ceremonial Blessingway ritual. Oversized puppets and symbolic imagery appear throughout the video, which was filmed against the sunlit coastline of Victoria.
“I spent all summer offline in a hot shed making a six metre tall mother puppet and convinced my band to dress up as Victorian children,” Senior said. “I wanted the clip to feel ritualistic. My sister Andi is dressed in black representing a woman mourning her old identity and I dressed up as a Maria archetype in bright red symbolising love.”
Senior’s career began with the 2015 album Summer’s On The Ground, released through the independent Melbourne label Flightless Records. The record, recorded while she was still emerging in the local scene, drew attention for its acoustic arrangements and literary lyricism and received a nomination at the Music Victoria Awards.
Follow-up albums Pretty Faces in 2017 and The Passing Scene in 2020 broadened her sonic palette, introducing baroque pop elements and a fuller band arrangement. In 2023 she released The Music That I Make through Poison City Records, an album recorded around the reflective environment of her home near Anglesea.
Beyond her solo work, Senior has collaborated widely within Australia’s independent music community. She provided narration on albums by King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard and has performed with the band on stage, including appearances during their Red Rocks shows in the United States. Her touring history has also seen her share stages with artists including Wilco, Iron & Wine, Simon Joyner and Jessica Pratt.
Senior’s work has also crossed into other creative spaces. In 2025 she served as Poet In Residence for ABC Radio National’s Poetry Month, reflecting her longstanding interest in literary songwriting and spoken word performance.
Senior has also become part of wider industry discussion in recent years around artist independence in the streaming era. In 2025 she removed her music from Spotify in protest over the platform’s corporate funding structures, a move that sparked debate among independent artists about the economics of digital distribution and the role of community-based music ecosystems.
The decision positioned Senior within a growing international conversation about how independent musicians balance global exposure with financial sustainability. While the streaming landscape remains dominant, artists across the folk and indie scenes continue to experiment with alternative distribution models and direct audience engagement.
With Pt. Roadknight scheduled for release on June 19, Senior will launch the album with a special performance in regional Victoria. Additional tour dates are expected to follow as the new record reaches audiences both in Australia and internationally.
For listeners who have followed her evolution from the intimate acoustic recordings of her early work through to the broader arrangements of recent albums, Pt. Roadknight signals another step in the continuing story of one of Australia’s most distinctive contemporary folk voices.
Leah Senior – Pt. Roadknight Tracklisting
Mothersong
Softly, Once Again
Talk To Me
Winter
Two Weeks
Seasonal Rhyme
People Pleaser
Part Of The Crowd
Zoë
Blossoms Of Spring
Child
Lovelily
Tour Dates
Saturday 20 June, Meeniyan, Meeniyan Town Hall
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