Geoff Helisma
Anna Stanton and Jed Billington, who are partners in life and music, recently declared “Happy 6 years to us”, on their Facebook page, “what a wild journey.”
Their “wild journey”, as indie folk act Alivan Blu, led them to performing twice at the recent Splendour in the Grass festival, which they described as “a dream come true”, and soon they’ll embark on their first international tour.
“Forever grateful to not only have a career, doing what we love, making music together but we also get to do life together,” they wrote.
Last week, the duo shared Alivan Blu + Austin Mackay ‘Secret Garden Show Tour’ Mini Doco on their YouTube channel, and their song, The Fall, has registered the most Spotify plays on the Best Indie Folk of 2021, Vol. 1 album, which features artists from around the globe.
The Fall has registered 330,000 plays; meanwhile, Chicago-based contemporary folk duo, Frances Luke Accord, is next best with 179,909 plays of their song, Maria.
On the mini documentary, they write, “We had a bunch of incredible people offer to host a show in their own backyard.
“…We were able to create such amazing nights shared with amazing people.
“Thank you to all who came to the shows and thank you for making these shows so special and a massive thankyou to Declan Hartley-Brown for coming on the road with us, putting up with ourselves and Austin [Mackay Music] and capturing all of the incredible moments so beautifully.”
Hartley-Brown describes himself as a “photographer, videographer and adventurer”, who is “infatuated with documenting moments”.
Alivan Blu is overseas on some well-earned R & R at the moment, but the road beckons, with an east coast tour from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast (September 8 to 18), supporting Riley Pierce, and a nine-date tour of the UK and Europe (October 4 to 18), as special guests of their “good friends, The Dreggs”.