GOLDHEISt
"Kate Bush vibes with enormous tranquility and hope
buried deep inside..." - Triple J Unearthed
From: THE AU REVIEW // By Bruce Baker (click HERE)
GOLDHEIST is the moniker for regional NSW singer/songwriter Hester Fraser. We are thrilled today to be premiering Eyes of Love, the third album from this outstanding artist. Releasing an album through these times is no easy feat, and for GOLDHEIST adapting to the circumstances has proved to be the order of the day.
The album was to be launched with a live show, but that has been scuppered with the current situation. As well as the online premiere of Eyes of Love, we have a brand spanking new video for the track “Love Letter to a Year Most Bizarre” which was a grand finalist in the Listen Up Music’s – The Songwriting Prize 2021.
Her previous album, Realm (2017), had an electro-pop feel to it, and for Eyes of Love, GOLDHEIST has embraced a more earthly acoustic approach. It gives the songs a beautiful directness and amplifies the emotions. There is a delicacy to the production, where the raw stripped back nature of it allows the intimacy of Hester’s songs to shine through. They are touching, they are tender and utterly heartfelt...
BIOGRAPHY
Visually and sonically arresting, flower crowned crooner GOLDHEIST has been likened to Kate Bush, Imogen Heap, and Everything But The Girl, bringing her songs and stories to stages across regional and metropolitan Australia. Her songs tell tales of love, life and adventure, painting vibrant pictures of the Australian bush, current affairs and events, not to mention a few broken hearts.
Kickstarting 2020 with a regional tour of Victoria and South Australia with the legendary multi-instrumentalist Andrew Clermont (recently inducted into the AMC SA Music Hall Of Fame), including a concert in the Blanche Cave at Naracoorte (SA), musical adventures were cut short for the year by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now based in regional NSW, GOLDHEIST released her third album, EYES OF LOVE in January 2022. The record features award winning song Love Letter to a Year Most Bizarre, Grand Finalist in the 2021/22 Listen Up Australia Songwriting Prize. A rich tapestry of vocal revelation and instrumental colour, this fierce yet delicate body of work is a celebration of connection, imperfection, and the unexpected joys of best-laid plans gone awry, featuring poignant, incisive storytelling and musical portraiture.
In previous years...
2019 started (as have the last five years!) with the Tamworth Country Music Festival. Following a series of sessions at the Church Street Studios in Sydney with producer Ollie Brown, GOLDHEIST released her latest single Wayfarer, launched at The Vanguard in May as part of the VIVID Music program. GOLDHEIST was also a Semi-Finalist in the International Songwriting Competition for You Were There and the accompanying music video, as well as Winner of the Pop division of the Indie International Songwriting Contest for Wild Things. GOLDHEIST performed at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, before touring regional NSW with multi-instrumentalist Andrew Clermont. She sang at the Sydney Opera House for the second time as one of the feature artists for Daybreaker.
2018 was a year of collaboration for GOLDHEIST. Selected for Sydney's VIVID Festival, she joined forces with Auslan Sign Language interpreters, performing a completely translated concert at the Art Gallery of NSW of VIVID Music and Art After Hours. Continuing the art connection, in September and October of 2018, GOLDHEIST toured outback and regional NSW with painter James Needham, performing live art and music performances exploring the spirit of place and the ways in which our surrounds inspire and impact us.
2017 marked the release of REALM, the first conceptual studio album by GOLDHEIST, which was launched at a sold out concert in the Utzon Room at the Sydney Opera House.
And before that...
GOLDHEIST charmed audiences as a Finalist for three years running in the Toyota Busking Championships at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, was Winner of the prestigious People’s Choice Award in 2016, and 2nd Place Winner of the Judges Choice in 2017. GOLDHEIST released her single Far Away From Here, recorded with TAFE NSW as a result of winning the People's Choice Award in the Toyota Busking Championships at the Tamworth Country Music Festival. Her song You Were There, written in support of Suicide Prevention Australia, was the Semi-Final Regional Winner and Grand Finalist in The Official Top Ten Night's Listen Up Australia! songwriting contest.
Educated at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the GOLDHEIST story has taken some time to unravel. In early 2014, she toured NSW with her debut release Dust, raising funds and awareness for drought in rural areas. This was her first tour under the moniker GOLDHEIST, leading to further drought relief performances through Centacare New England North West alongside music legends Jeff Lang and Vince Jones, followed by appearances at the Quirindi Music Festival, RAW Visionary Melbourne, and a mini-tour to Byron Bay and Murwillumbah. She was the winner of BalconyTV Producers Pick for her live video performance of Wild Things on the rooftop of Sydney Harbour YHA, and in 2015, two GOLDHEIST songs were included in the soundtrack for independent feature film Beijing Being, which was selected for the 39th Montreal World Film Festival and the NYC Independent Film Festival.
Following the death of her grandfather, the late Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser, she wrote and released The Camellia Tree, a musical tribute to his life and legacy. The subsequent media campaign, widespread radio play, and performance on The Morning Show helped to raise funds and awareness for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. This is an ongoing project to which GOLDHEIST lends her voice and her art, contributing to the call for changes to Australia’s controversial policies towards displaced peoples seeking asylum.