Stella Donnelly, a singer and songwriter based in Perth, Australia, pairs understated vocals with understated indie pop arrangements whose lyrics confront sexism, misogyny, sexual assault, and imbalances of wealth and power. Following an independently issued, minimalist EP in 2017, she joined the roster of Secretly Canadian and issued her first full-length album, Beware of the Dogs, in 2019; two years later she returned with the follow-up Flood.
Donnelly began her career performing in ensembles led by others, including the indie group Bells Rapids and assorted cover bands. During 2017 she captured her initial batch of original material on the lean six-track release Thrush Metal. The EP’s restrained acoustic settings allowed her assured, frequently acerbic voice to foreground pointed observations on social issues. Issued first on CD by Donnelly herself, the recording later appeared in limited cassette editions that sold out rapidly amid rising interest in her work. She subsequently aligned with the U.S. independent label Secretly Canadian, which re-released Thrush Metal and began preparations for a debut album. After an extended period of continuous road work, she finished recording Beware of the Dogs, whose more refined sound contrasted with the earlier EP; the album appeared in March 2019, prompting additional touring. In the months after its release she relocated repeatedly across Australia, though pandemic restrictions curtailed both live activity and creative output for an extended stretch. Between the two albums Donnelly composed more than forty new songs and ultimately selected eleven of them for Flood, which Secretly Canadian issued in August 2022.
