A twin sister duo from Walpole WA, Oceanique are becoming renowned for their emotive lyrics and angelic harmonies. Sisters Maddy and Jess have graced stages across the state, including performances at Nannup Music Festival, Hear and Now Festival, WAMFest and Hidden Treasures along with scoring a residency at the Leederville Songwriters Club. The duo recently dropped a new track, “Emotional Weight”, Isolated Nation caught up with Maddy and Jess to discuss their influences and the excitement leading up to their WA tour.

IN: Your latest single, ‘Emotional Weight’, was released a few weeks ago. What was the inspiration behind this track and what was the biggest challenge in the writing/recording process?

Oceanique: We wrote this song at the end of 2020 when we were both feeling a little lost and unsure of what was coming next. We saw all the different paths we could take in our lives at the time, and it was all about making the right decision. It’s a song about navigating your way through the push and pull of life. We really wanted that big weighty emotion to come through in the recording and we had a lot of fun in the studio layering up the harmonies.

The biggest challenge was having to make the final call on the arrangement and instrumentation. We had a version of the song that had lap steel, as much as we loved the part we had to make the call to not include it on the track to allow for other parts of the song to stand out.

IN: You’re currently on tour, which in general must be exciting but, is there an individual date you are particularly looking forward to out of this run of shows?

Oceanique: We are really looking forward to our show in Perth on the 29th of April. This one going to be a super special one as it’s the official launch show for the new single. We are decorating the stage and we’ve got some really beautiful supports and there’s just going to be a lot of love and support in the room. Special shows like this don’t come around often and we are very excited to play this one.

What song from your current catalogue do you find the most enjoyable to perform live?

Oceanique: We are really loving playing the new single at the moment and our single from last year ‘Hiding from You’. These both have really fun harmony parts and we really enjoy playing them live.

As a duo and as individuals, who are some of your biggest musical influences?

Oceanique: We both grew up listening to a lot of Missy Higgins and The Waifs so they have definitely influenced our musical style. At the moment we are listening to a lot of Charm of Finches, a sister duo from Melbourne. We love their songwriting and the way they harmonise with each other. We’ve also been loving First Aid Kit, Joni Mitchell and Sharon Van Etten.

What are some goals you would like to achieve this year, as a musical duo?

Oceanique: This year we are really focusing on recording our debut album, it’s been a huge goal for us, and we are very excited to be stepping into the studio in the next couple of weeks to record. There’s something special about being in the studio, it’s pretty magic and one of our favourite parts about being musicians.

We also really want to head over east next year and tour nationally, it’s a big goal of ours and we are working hard to make it happen.

You can stream, “Emotional Weight" here.