Alex Lahey

Hailing from Australia, the songwriter Alex Lahey surfaced in 2016 after her track “You Don't Think You Like People Like Me” captured awards and favorable notice in both her homeland and across the United States. Her debut full-length, I Love You Like a Brother, arrived in 2017 and highlighted her command of guitar-driven material packed with equal measures of melody and edge, whereas the follow-up The Best of Luck Club, issued in 2019, broadened her palette across tempos and stylistic references. She resurfaced in 2023 with The Answer Is Always Yes, a set marked by renewed intensity.

Drawing from sources that range from the Killers and Paramore to Dolly Parton and Bruce Springsteen, Lahey entered the world in Melbourne on July 30, 1992. At thirteen she began lessons on guitar and saxophone, then pursued studies in art and jazz upon enrolling at university. She later narrowed her academic concentration to art alone, yet sustained her musical involvement by performing vocals and saxophone in the Melbourne group Animaux. Once songwriting claimed more of her attention, she departed the band to work independently. She entered “You Don't Think You Like People Like Me” in the Josh Pyke Partnership competition supporting emerging Australian writers; in 2016 the composition prevailed over two hundred submissions to claim the award. That same week Pitchfork designated the song Best New Track, extending her reach beyond Australia.

After receiving Triple J’s Unearthed accolade for emerging artists, Lahey issued her five-track EP B-Grade University through Caroline Australia Records in August 2016 and joined Tegan and Sara as support on tour. Dead Oceans extended a contract the following January and re-released the EP stateside. Her first studio album, I Love You Like a Brother, followed in October 2017, climbing to number 15 on the Australian pop chart and drawing favorable notices; she then embarked on initial North American and European headline runs while earning a 2018 ARIA nomination for Breakthrough Artist—Release at home. Teaming with producer Catherine Marks, she devoted much of 2018 to tracking the next record. The resulting The Best of Luck Club appeared in May 2019, landing at number 30 on the ARIA chart before she toured extensively throughout Australia, North America, and Europe.

Touring halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Lahey recorded the surprise EP Between the Kitchen and the Living Room at home and released it for fans in May 2020. That year she also supplied the original song “On My Way” to the animated feature The Mitchells vs. the Machines. After a 2021 collaboration with fellow Australian Gordi, she joined the Los Angeles roster of Liberation Records and issued “Spike the Punch.” Further singles “Shit Talkin” and “They Wouldn't Let Me In” surfaced over the ensuing months ahead of her third album. A tightly constructed collection of breakup anthems rich in hooks, The Answer Is Always Yes landed in May 2023.