Three years ago Elizabeth Morris moved from Brisbane to London with a big dream; to be in a band. It was here that she started realising her goals and writing songs properly, because before then she’d “just dabbled really.” Originally from Central Queensland, Elizabeth reckons it was difficult to get serious as a musician in Brisbane. So when the bright lights of London called, brandishing opportunities and dozens of places to play; naturally she answered. ”Coming from Rocky, there isn’t an awful lot of soul around, apart from bits and pieces in my parent’s record collection. So it was really exciting for me to realize that there is this whole tradition in the UK of that kind of thing,” Elizabeth says. With her obvious penchant for pop, London is the place to be for Elizabeth, and thanks to her newfound geography; seemingly she is dabbling no longer. Having immersed herself in the UK’s indiepop scene, her star is on the rise.
Elizabeth formed a band called The Darlings, before a rename to Allo Darlin’. Under this moniker, she has spent these three years industriously writing and performing individually and with other musicians, including Darren Hanlon.
Her resulting whimsical lyrics are beautifully real.
“Lyrically I’m quite honest, I guess. I can’t really be that clever and make up stories, which is something I really admire from people like Stuart Murdoch in Belle and Sebastian, or Morrissey,” she says.
Elizabeth likes to approach potential collaborators to perform or record her self-penned ditties.
“I’m lucky because I write songs on my own, that when I record them and sometimes when I play live I can ask lots of different people to play with me. The nice thing about the indie scene is that you can write to anyone or someone you see in a gig, and ask them to come and play on your record. It’s a very friendly scene! “
Considering she had only performed once in Brisbane, (at Fatboys in Fortitude Valley) she is seasoned at the art after her time in London.
“It was pretty terrible and I was so nervous I couldn’t breathe. But thankfully things have gotten a lot better since then!”
From watching the snippets of her performances online, Elizabeth sometimes sports a trademark yellow hoodie, rabbit ears, or oversized spectacles. Her musical style has been called “tweepop” and has piqued the interest of BBC Radio as well as radio in Europe and the USA. As a further testament to her ability, her cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Atlantic City was included in a tribute album to ‘The Boss’.
Plans for further tours in Germany, Italy and possibly San Francisco are in the pipeline. And one day she reckons she’d love to come back to Australia permanently or “somewhere that’s not so crazy”. Let’s hope she comes back soon.
