MELODY Pool describes the sensation of releasing her long-awaited EP Lost In Time in February like "ripping off the bandaid."
But rather than exposing a wound, it resulted in the opposite.
The process of releasing Lost In Time - the Kurri Kurri singer-songwriter's first new music to reach the public's ears in seven years - showcased how much Pool has healed.
Following the release of Pool's acclaimed second album Deep Dark Savage Heart in 2016 she endured a break from music due to mental health battles and she scrapped the recording of a third record at least three times as she struggled with perfectionism.
But the experience of releasing Lost In Time independently, and its subsequent tour, has reinvigorated Pool.
Earlier this week she completed tracking her third album at Golden Retriever Studios in Sydney.
Joined by Brendan Clark (bass), Miles Thomas (drums), Tate Sheridan (keys), CJ Stranger (guitar), Hayley Ayres (violin) and Madeleine (cello), and with partner Christopher Dale producing, Pool recorded 13 songs in a whirlwind 10-day period.
"I'm never too far away from creating music, but releasing it has been a different story," Pool says.
"I guess the EP ripped the bandaid off and took the pressure off me being able to do that.
"I had this big thing in my head - which is why I couldn't get it done - that I needed to have this huge comeback.
"To go in the complete other direction and release something that's so sparse and so the reverse of what a comeback would ordinarily look like or sound like - it took a lot of pressure off me to throw it out into the world.
"It reversed the pressure I'd lumped on myself and freed up this album for me."
Pool says the third album will serve as a natural bridge between the polished indie-folk of Deep Dark Savage Heart and the more minimalist Lost In Time.
"It's much more of a refined sound, having a full band," she says. "It's revisiting that, not overly-produced sound, because it's actually quite delicate and vulnerable.
"We recorded to tape, so it has this beautiful warmth. It's funny, because I was a little bit apprehensive, like how much better can tape actually be? This cool thing people want to record to.
"Then I heard the first song back and I thought, 'Oh my god, it sounds done'.
"It's nice because I've heard all my favourite albums sound like this because they were made back in the '70s and '60s."
Pool hopes to release the third album in early 2024.
Melody Pool will support Katie Noonan at her Joni Mitchell Blue 50th anniversary show at Abermain hotel, Qirkz In The Hunter, on June 4.
