Remember travel? It’s becoming a distant memory for many of us, but Sydney singer-songwriter Rita B makes us nostalgic for holidays with her beautiful new folk ditty, “Travel Companion.”
“Travel Companion” explores the ideas of escapism and isolation. As Rita B explains, it also touches on “safety as a woman in those spaces, in particular, whilst travelling. It’s a relatively stripped-back (singer-songwriter) track – not played with the band. Layers of sound, such as backing vocals and violin are added to create a melancholy, dream-like vibe as the track progresses.”
Creating a music video for a song about travel was always going to be challenging right now, so Rita did the only thing you can do: she went outback. This gorgeous video, directed by Maisie Cohen, captures the dramatic, arid beauty of regional New South Wales.
“Maisie Cohen was the brainchild of the project, who quite literally turned a song about road tripping, into a road trip throughout regional NSW. The destination was Mungo National Park with its unique and arid landscape, visiting many quirky/colonial regional towns along the way, taking advantage of the signature architecture and landscapes there within,” Rita explained. “It was ironic as I was able to share this journey with Maisie as well as Drew Norley and Ariki Hita, who helped with the video production. We all got along really well and were great ‘Travel Companions’. I really wanted to dance the waltz because I thought it complimented the longing feeling in the song and managed to include some scenes of beautiful Kiera dancing with me which added to the dreamlike element of the song. A few of my family members feature in the clip, my sister and her partner are mentioned in the storyline and my niece played the role of my imaginary daughter. Really proud and chuffed that they participated”.
Rita B is scheduled to play the following shows in the coming months. Hopefully they go ahead!
28 October 2021 – Get Folked Punk @ LazyBones Lounge Restaurant and Bar, Marrickville
4 December 2021 – The Townie, Newtown (with Josh Shipton)
Image used with permission from Beehive PR; credit: D.H Norley