Lisa Mitchell

Lisa Helen Mitchell (born 22 March 1990) is an Australian musician, singer and songwriter who grew up in Albury, New South Wales. Mitchell currently lives in Melbourne and is working on her fourth studio album. Mitchell finished sixth in the 2006 season of Australian Idol. Her debut extended play, Said One to the Other (4 August 2007), topped iTunes in Australia and she signed with London-based publisher, Little Victories, a subsidiary of Sony/ATV. By 2008 Mitchell had relocated to the UK where she recorded her debut studio album, Wonder (31 July 2009), which peaked at No. 6 on the ARIA Albums Chart. She won the 2009 Australian Music Prize of $30,000 for the album. Mitchell returned to Australia to live in Melbourne. Her second album, Bless This Mess (12 October 2012) reached No. 7. In March 2015, Mitchell's last single "Wah Ha" was remixed by electronic trio Seekae. Her third album Warriors was released on 16 October 2016 and debuted Top 10 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

Early years Lisa Helen Mitchell was born on 22 March 1990 in Canterbury, England. Her parents, Angus and Ruth, are both doctors, The Mitchell family had moved to Australia when she was three and she grew up near Albury on a farm. At that time "We thought that The Donnas and Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were the ultimate women of the world". as well as Patti Smith, Regina Spektor, Clare Bowditch, Joanna Newsom, and later, Lou Reed and Velvet Underground. Mitchell also formed a duo with another Albury-based friend, Katherine Green, which was "More along the lines of what I do on my own now, only a lot folkier. We sang [...] colonial folk tunes actually. Quite traditional and harmony based. We had brilliant fun playing in the chalkboard tents at the folk festivals in Australia". Mitchell had auditioned in Albury in April, aged 16, and moved through the selection process to the final six before being eliminated in mid-October. In June 2009 Mitchell reflected on her time on Australian Idol: "I was uncomfortable with elements of the show and unhappy about the compromises sometimes. I didn't know what I wanted with music but I did know that I loved it. I think that was what the experience cemented. It's taken me a long time to find my own way. But I never went back to school".

Starting in March 2007 Mitchell performed live from her home on her MySpace page, with her first online gig reaching 10,000 viewers. On 13 April that year, she performed at a National Youth Week event in Parkes, On 4 August she released her first extended play, Said One to the Other, via iTunes and physically one week later. Its four tracks were produced by Evermore's Dann Hume and debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart at No. 27. and Warner Music. It peaked at No. 1 on the iTunes 'Top Albums' chart. Tange of TheDwarf.com.au website felt it was "sweet, and cute, and delicate, and nice – but not truly beautiful, powerful or developed". "Incomplete Lullaby", which was co-written by Mitchell and Hume, was used on the Australian version of celebrity dance competition TV series, So You Think You Can Dance.

On 5 January 2008 Mitchell appeared on an episode of SBS-TV's celebrity music quiz show, RocKwiz, where she performed "Incomplete Lullaby", solo, and then duetted with Quan Yeomans on "Raspberry Beret". She followed in the next month by her second headlining tour with support acts Ashleigh Mannix and Leroy Lee. Mitchell then began writing material for her debut album with Ben Lee, Evans and Bowditch – but the it was not used.

In April 2008 Mitchell moved to London to continue writing for her debut album, collaborating with Ant Whiting, Ed Harcourt and Sacha Skarbek. It is featured on the Packed to the Rafters soundtrack; in a Deutsche Telekom ad; and in Spain in the El Corte Inglés Christmas ad. "Far Far Far Away" from Welcome to the Afternoon was used to promote the Olympic cliffhanger episode of Home and Away.

Paul Lester of The Guardian declared Mitchell to be New Band of the Day as "there's more to [her] than an ability to hold a note, although she does that very well indeed, even if her voice is perhaps too idiosyncratic for one of those reality programmes, a little too quavery, kooky and girly". After working in London for six months, Mitchell returned to Australia.

2009–2011: Wonder After the February 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, a number of benefit concerts were organised; Lisa Mitchell performed an unaccompanied set, supporting Tex Perkins, at the Ding Dong Lounge in Melbourne.

In April that year she opened for Jason Mraz in Melbourne. In July 2009 Mitchell released her debut album, Wonder, Promotion for the album included various tours in Australia and a European tour.

Ben Vernel of theDwarf.com.au felt the album was "not a bad debut. It's a little bit obnoxious and a little bit cutesy in parts ... Aside from that, which is purely a matter of taste, the songs are very very well written". While The Ages Andrew Murfett noted it was "a sparkling debut album" and Mitchell told him "I'm happy where I am at the moment ... It's ticking along quite nicely. I like working hard. And it's good to see the results".

It was accredited a platinum record for shipment of 70,000 copies by ARIA at the end of 2010. Despite working in London with "the creme de la creme of what you would want to record with. I mean, we had Ed Harcourt playing keys on everything!", most of the album tracks were produced by Hume at The Stables Recording Studio in country Victoria. "Neopolitan Dreams" was also used in the game LittleBigPlanet (2009) and is the song of the customer service of Chilean telco VTR. In October Mitchell supported Newton Faulkner (aka Crispin Hunt) on his Rebuilt by Humans Tour across the UK and Republic of Ireland which included shows in Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, and Newcastle. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2009 Mitchell was nominated in three categories: Best Female Artist, Breakthrough Artist – Album for Wonder, and Breakthrough Artist – Single for "Coin Laundry". "Coin Laundry" was placed at No. 7 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2009. Her pre-gig ritual was to "Be silly and put way too much sparkles on my eyelids and make up silly songs with Stuart [Barlow] (guitarist) and revise my 'Coin Laundry' rant. (I have to warn people not to throw coins etc.)" The exposure generated by Meyer-Landrut's performance saw Mitchell's single reach No. 33 on the German Singles Chart. In April to May 2010 Mitchell went on her Oh! Hark! National Theatre Tour, where she was supported by Sydney-based country blues duo, Georgia Fair, and indie rock group, Boy & Bear. Her tour included over 18,000 fans in attendance. In October that year Mitchell headed to Hume's rural studio to start recording tracks, "It's beautiful; it's nice to be out in the country every day. Nature affects me in really good ways so I love being out in the country".

2012–2013: "Spiritus" and Bless This Mess Lisa Mitchell released a single, "Spiritus", on 27 March 2012 and undertook a national tour of church venues, Heavenly Sounds, in June with Georgia Fair supporting her. A music video for "Spiritus" featured Georgia Fair's Wilson as her "love interest" and the single peaked at number 91. In May, Mitchell released an EP titled Spiritus, which featured "Spiritus" and four other new tracks. Rob McNicol of Scene Magazine noted that Mitchell "exposed her philosophical and spiritual side when she began explaining the meaning of the album. She discussed a bunch of real world issues – division of society, the negative impact of money, and the lack of wisdom being passed through the generations – all the while keeping an optimistic outlook on life".

The title track was issued ahead of the album as a single in September. The album was also available for streaming online in full during early October.

In early February the following year Mitchell performed at the Melbourne Zoo, supported by Georgia Fair, with proceeds to "help fight wildlife extinction". Later that month and in March she supported Neil Finn and Paul Kelly on their combined Going Your Way Tour of Australia. In May she was interviewed by Marc Fennell for ABC News 24 series, One Plus One, she described her songwriting "I like to demo ... I do really dodgy Garage Band demos on my Mac ... it starts from there ... at that point you can be a control freak and do it however you want".

2014–2017: "Wah Ha" and Warriors On 28 September 2014, Lisa Mitchell released a new song "Wah Ha" as a limited free download, premiering the single on Richard Kingsmill's show on triple j. Mitchell followed the release with a video produced with friend and collaborator Kirrilee Bailey, and sold-out shows in London. The single received airplay in UK from Jo Whiley of BBC Radio 2 and Lauren Laverne as well as plays on US public radio station KCRW with Morning Becomes Eclectic. On 26 February 2015, a remix of "Wah Ha" by Sydney electronic trio Seekae was premiered by online music magazine Hypetrak.com.

On 2 August 2016, the first single from Mitchell's third studio album, Warriors, was released, titled "The Boys". The music video, set in Mitchell's childhood hometown of Albury, was inspired by her observations of how "guys spend time together, how they show affection – it's always playing games or joking around or drinking, I notice a real buoyancy, or light-heartedness which I think is quite different to girls." Warriors was released on 16 October 2016 and officially in the UK in April 2017.

2021–present: A Place to Fall Apart On 29 September 2021, Lisa Mitchell released a new song "Zombie". In an Instagram post, Lisa confirmed the song was the first single from her next album.

On 28 January 2022, Mitchell announced the title of her fourth studio album as A Place to Fall Apart.

Discography

Wonder (2009) Bless This Mess (2012) Warriors (2016) A Place to Fall Apart (2022)

Awards and nominations APRA Awards The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).

"Coin Laundry" Song of the Year

ARIA Awards The ARIA Music Awards are presented annually from 1987 by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Lisa Mitchell has five nominations.

Best Female Artist

Australian Music Prize

J Award The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J. They commenced in 2005. 2009 Wonder Australian Album of the Year