Photo by J Karis

“Sometimes someone else’s baby is just better than your own. This feeling tends to correlate with having an absolutely chaotic life, so as an avoidance technique, it’s fantastic!,” says Sarah Mary Chadwick of the final single from her imminent album, Messages to God. Sometimes accepting the L isn’t such a bad way to be, and the Melbourne-based songwriter’s path of least resistance in defeat can be heard as its own kind of freedom even if lyrically, her writ out of context could be construed as brutally dour. “I’m just a star that never shined / A mountain no one wants to climb / I don’t know how to live under the light / But I’m thankful that I’ve had.” Turning the art of losing into something meaningful is something few can out best her on, however, and with her broken song settled over a polite gesture of keys, it sounds like being on the receiving end of a warm hug after the other team scores a miracle shot in the final second.

Sarah Mary Chadwick’s Messages to God will be released September 15th on Kill Rock Stars.