TILLY Murphy has grown up and is ready to move ahead in her life and music.
But first the 21-year-old Newcastle singer-songwriter, known professionally as Fritz, has the important matter of releasing her second album Pastel on Friday.
The nine-song grunge-pop album serves as a marker of sorts, like the epilogue of an epic novel with twists and turns and character growth.
Essentially Pastel is the story of Murphy leaving behind her adolescence and becoming a young adult.
"Most of the songs are about my upbringing and adolescence," Murphy said. "They're the main themes.
"Nostalgia is what the whole album is about and that seems right because I wrote it from 17 and the whole album is about my upbringing.
"I write a lot about childhood. The nostalgia is a mix of emotions. Overall it sounds pretty bright, but there's some dark themes.
"It wouldn't be a Fritz song if it wasn't a bit dark."
Murphy first came to prominence as a 17-year-old in 2017 when she released the lo-fi indie album Fritz, which was entirely produced in her Merewether Heights bedroom using rudimentary equipment and music production app GarageBand.
Songs like Yuk and Sandpaper Hands held an obvious charm and brought Fritz to the attention of triple j and hip Sydney radio station FBi.
Since then Fritz's music has continued to develop with the singles Biggest Fool In The World, Summer Holiday, Jan 1, Ghost Poke and her most popular track, Arrow, which has reached 188,000 Spotify streams.
Jan 1, Ghost Poke and Arrow are all included on Pastel, which blends Murphy's love of '80s pop and '90s guitar bands, with a large dose of modern bedroom-pop from American indie acts Soccer Mommy and Snail Mail.
The songs were written and then recorded at Fraser Marshall's Lambton home studio over a three-year period, beginning with Gracie, Forgive Me and latest single Die Happily in 2018. The most recent tracks Arrow and U Keep Me Alive were completed early last year.
In hindsight Murphy views her debut as an experiment in how to make an album which proved very successful, while Pastel is her first "studio album" using proper tools and utilising the expertise of Marshall and her bandmates Cody Brougham (guitar) and Darren James (drums).
"It's so weird, because it's like 18-year-old me singing and then there's 20-year-old me singing," she said. "It's a little time capsule of me."
Murphy said she can hear the transition.
"The songs I wrote back then in 2017-18, they're on the album and I love them, but there's so many things I would change about them," she said.
"But I wouldn't want to because I wrote them that way because that was just me at the time. I like how it's this album which has parts of me from then and parts of me from now.
"I wouldn't change anything, but I see growth in what I'm interested in and music writing.
"Songs I wrote back then, I wouldn't write songs like that again because I'm interested in writing different types of music."
The title track is about Murphy's habit of dying her hair constantly as a teenager, while the distorted blast of She's Gonna Hate Me deals with "girl drama in its simplest way."
Other tracks have more serious themes. On the closing Jan 1 about new year's resolutions and personal growth, Fritz sings, "Maybe on New Year's Eve this year it won't be so bad, as bad as last."
Then on Pastel's finest moment, Arrow, Fritz explores friendship and conflict, with "You're depressing, I feel stupid/ I'm glad I met you 'cause that's what I needed/ I feel better I feel good somehow."
There is also increased demand for Fritz's new material. More than 50 per cent of Pastel's pre-orders hail from overseas in countries like Germany, Switzerland, the US, UK and Japan.
"I have no idea how anyone knows about me," she said. "I suppose it's just the internet."
The University of Newcastle visual communication student said there's no immediate plans to tour Pastel, but she hopes to announce a listening launch party.
"I'm still in no hurry to get back to shows," she said. "I'm still sitting on how I feel about shows.
"Taking that big break has actually given me some sort of realisation whether I do want to play shows again."
It's so weird, because it's like 18-year-old me singing and then there's 20-year-old me singing. It's a little time capsule of me.
Tilly Murphy
What is definitely coming in the future is more albums. Murphy has already began writing new material.
"Where I'm headed in the future isn't really shown on this album," she said. "I'm headed in a completely different direction, but it'll be a natural change."
So does Pastel feel like the door has shut finally on Murphy's childhood, something that has provided the inspiration for her first two albums?
"It's definitely helped to shut that off, writing about these kind of things," she said. "It helps to put that in the past. I'm writing more music now and I've noticed it doesn't include the same themes. It's more about the present, so it's done now."
Fritz's album Pastel is released on Friday.
