Mo’Ju To Release Double J Live At The Wireless With Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

ARIA-nominated songwriter and storyteller Mo’Ju will release a landmark live album, Mo’Ju with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Double J Live at the Wireless), on Friday September 26 via ABC Music. Recorded at Melbourne’s Hamer Hall in 2023, the project captures Mo’Ju’s songs reimagined with the grandeur of a full symphony orchestra, cementing another milestone in a career defined by bold reinvention.

The album’s centrepiece is a soaring rendition of the 2018 single ‘Native Tongue’, a song that has become one of the most important Australian compositions of the past decade.

Exploring identity, heritage, and belonging through Mo’Ju’s Wiradjuri and Filipino roots, the track sparked vital national conversations on culture and representation. With the MSO behind them, ‘Native Tongue’ transforms into an even more visceral moment of truth-telling.

Mo’Ju reflected on the experience of stepping into orchestral territory, “After 20 odd years of touring, it starts becoming rare to have new experiences in that space, but I had never really done anything like this. Hearing your music arranged and performed by an orchestra is a very emotional thing. I don’t think I’d even dared to dream of something like it. It seemed unlikely for someone like me. So to not only have done this, but to have committed it to record… working with such incredibly talented people, I’m very proud of it but I’m also humbled by it.”

The orchestral arrangements were crafted by composer Jamie Messenger and conducted by Nicholas Buc, adding a cinematic dimension to Mo’Ju’s already fearless catalogue. The setlist draws from across their career, including the politically charged ‘Change Has To Come’, the reflective ‘Swan Song’, and selections from 2023’s Oro, Plata, Mata.

Mo’Ju, born Mo’Ju Navarro, first emerged as Mojo Juju in the late 2000s, carving out a reputation in Melbourne’s blues and soul underground. Their 2012 self-titled debut was a raw, guitar-driven album steeped in rockabilly, rhythm & blues, and swaggering storytelling.

A breakthrough came with 2015’s Seeing Red / Feeling Blue, which showcased a more expansive neo-soul and funk direction. But it was 2018’s Native Tongue – both the single and the album of the same name, that brought Mo’Ju to the national stage. The record was nominated for three ARIA Awards and won Album of the Year at the National Indigenous Music Awards. Its title track remains a cultural anthem, studied in classrooms and embraced as a generational statement on belonging.

Mo’Ju continued to push boundaries with 2021’s O.K. EP, praised by NME for its “therapeutic intensity,” before releasing their fourth studio album, Oro, Plata, Mata, in 2023. The album took inspiration from Filipino folklore and Spanish colonialism, weaving themes of power, greed, and survival into lush soundscapes. The launch was celebrated with two extraordinary performances at the Sydney Opera House and Hamer Hall, accompanied by both the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Over the years, Mo’Ju has shared stages with Archie Roach, Uncle Jack Charles, Paul Kelly, Thelma Plum, A.B. Original, Fever Ray and more. Their international touring has taken them across Europe, the USA and Aotearoa, carrying an artistic vision that crosses genres and borders.

To coincide with the new album, Mo’Ju will embark on a stripped-back Australian tour this October, offering audiences the chance to experience their music in its most intimate form: just piano and voice. Joined by longtime collaborator Lewis Coleman, the shows will revisit material from across Mo’Ju’s four albums and two EPs in raw, vulnerable settings.

Mo’Ju Australian Shows 2025
Thursday October 2 | Werner Brodbeck Hall, Melbourne VIC *
Friday October 3 | St Andrew’s Uniting Church, Brisbane QLD *
Saturday October 4 | St Stephen’s Church, Sydney NSW *
Friday October 10 | The Pier, Ulverstone TAS **
Saturday October 11 | Du Cane Brewing, Launceston TAS **
Sunday October 12 | Longley Hotel, Hobart TAS **
Friday October 17 | OzAsia Festival, Adelaide SA

Discography
Mojo Juju (2012)
Seeing Red / Feeling Blue (2015)
Native Tongue (2018)
O.K. (EP, 2021)
Oro, Plata, Mata (2023)
Mo’Ju with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra – Double J Live at the Wireless (2024)

Tracklist – Mo’Ju with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
History
Okay
Oro Gold
Swan Song
Change Has To Come
Mata The Future
Plata Something To Believe In
Native Tongue
Leave It All
Saint Valentines
World Would End
Money
Get Fooled
Far Too Late

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Tagged as: 10s, Australia, Melbourne, Mo’ju, MSO, roots, Symphonic Orchestra