Asha Jefferies
Bio
EGO RIDE - the debut album by Australian frog enthusiast Asha Jefferies - is a self-portrait of the songwriter in motion. “I think travel and transit are so transformative,” she says. “When I listen to music, I’m not still - I’m walking, or I’m driving.” Like filmmaker Greta Gerwig - forcing the camera to keep pace as she dances along New York City streets in Frances Ha - Jefferies harnesses the momentum of kinetic energy to move from scene to scene, to recover from her stumbles quickly. “It feels like I’m always writing about getting from one place to another.”
Ego Ride and the deluxe edition Ego Ride Route Extended speaks to an audience of deeply-feeling listeners searching for the courage to take a step of faith, without knowing where it will lead. Across the album’s 13 tracks, Jefferies revisits two years of words and actions on loop - choices to speak or to stay silent, moments of stepping into or retreating from change. On first listen, its titular track seems to lay out the beats of her escape from a failed relationship: “I had to give up to start again”. In fact, Jefferies is breaking free from herself. “I realised that a lot of the narratives throughout the album are tied to my ego - whether that’s moments where I felt on top of the world, or totally crumbled,” she says. “Writing brings comfort and closure and acceptance to everything I’m feeling.”
Following the album's release, Jefferies embarked on an extraordinary touring journey, performing across the UK and Europe for six months, with highlights including showcases at The Great Escape, Reeperbahn, playing alongside Courtney Barnett, Lord Huron, Hana Vu and Margaret Glaspy, as well as her own headline shows in London, Germany, Amsterdam and Paris. Earlier in the year, she ventured to the USA, playing SXSW Austin and one-off shows in Los Angeles and New York
In recognition of her rising career, Asha has earned accolades, including a Queensland Music Award and has been a finalist in both the Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition and the International Songwriting Competition (ISC). Her recent releases have received praise from major UK and US outlets like Flood Magazine, Line of Best Fit, and Atwood Magazine, alongside local praise from Pilerats, The Music, and Rolling Stone, airplay on KCRW and KEXP and a performance for triple j Like A Version.