ENOLA

A shoegaze-y post-punk anthem… ENOLA essentially acting as your hype-person on this track, and they have got it absolutely pinpoint with the lyricism. I think it’s a new favourite out here on the show” - Jack Saunders, BBC Radio 1

“I think that probably is the best of the post-punk records to reach us from Australia in a while" - Steve Lamacq, BBC Radio 6

"ENOLA is a lit fuse with potential for the most incredible fireworks." - So Young Magazine (UK)

"For a song that sounds like it'd eat your face given the chance all that agitated energy still feels like a breath of life" - Dave Ruby Howe, triple j

"It's a very pop form of murky drive and I mean that as a massive, massive compliment, this is catchy as fuck." - Ned Raggett

ENOLA - the moniker for Naarm/Melbourne-based post-punk solo artist Ruby Marshall (they/them) - today unleashes their debut EP All Is Forgiven.

They also share enormous new cut of ‘Waves’ from the EP, which also features ‘Looking Back’, ‘Metal Body’, and ‘Strange Comfort’, plus brand new tracks ‘Hurt’ and ‘Miss You’ that reveal ENOLA’s softer side (“I wanna be someone that remains open, no matter what happens… There’s nothing wrong with getting your heart broken!”).

Closing All Is Forgiven, 'Waves' speaks volumes: in energy, resilience and sound, they leave absolutely nothing on the table. Telling parallel stories of personal and collective struggles, ‘Waves’ and earlier single ‘Metal Body’ are two sides of the same story - where ‘Metal Body’ was a reflection of the intensely personal, on ‘Waves’ ENOLA speaks to the broader struggles within society, how people fall through cracks in the system, living in the face of the climate crisis and the unlevel political landscape were the moving parts that created its cause.

Marshall shares, “Waves is really centered on the frustration of it all, feeling like you’re in a boiling pot with everything, from the political climate to the climate crisis, mental health issues, just everywhere I look there’s that feeling of tension rising. When what we need is compassion, what we need is softness.” ‘Waves’ has long been a standout at ENOLA’s much-talked-about live shows, most recently at SXSW Eora and supporting Ekkstacy in Naarm/Melbourne.

The balance of a gnarled world-weariness with compassion evident on ‘Looking Back’ with the full throttle energy of ‘Waves’ is echoed across the six tracks on All Is Forgiven. ‘Hurt’ and ‘Miss You’ draw on themes of remaining open to true, vulnerable, human love. The latter is a Mazzy Star-esque slowdown, featuring Ruby Marshall showing off a softer croon, while the former sounds like the end credits soundtrack of a David Lynch movie.

Marshall shares, “I wanna be someone that remains open, no matter what happens. I wanna keep showing up in love for the rest of my life. There’s nothing wrong with getting your heart broken! Go get your heart broken, it’s important. It’ll change you. So I commend all the people that keep rocking up for love.”

ENOLA’s hardened exterior that we hear in their songs, their voice, and see in their stage presence was forged during an incredibly tumultuous adolescence, coarsening after they left home at a young age where they faced years of uncertainty and instability. The juxtaposing softness is something that grew slowly over time; a flower blooming through split concrete. And now, the softness is the point. A hand reaching out, a heart determined to remain compassionate despite it all.

Taking inspiration from the upfront poetry of Patti Smith, the melancholic atmospherics of Joy Division and the snarling conviction of IDLES, ENOLA brings these influences into their full-band sound matched by their background in electronic music production. They teamed up with producer Bonnie Knight (Amyl and the Sniffers, Angie McMahon, Platonic Sex) to record All Is Forgiven at Naarm/Melbourne’s Soundpark Studios, and together with their band - Maya Alexandra (bass), Joshua Prendergast (guitar) and James Tyrell (drums) - were razor-focused on preserving the cathartic and intense energy of their live shows that have left a trail of fans in their wake: “To understand it, you gotta see it live,” Marshall insists.

ENOLA launched into Naarm/Melbourne's music scene with their self-titled EP performing as Enola Gay in 2019, released via local champions of the underground Burning Rose. Across ENOLA’s recent singles ‘Strange Comfort’, ‘Metal Body’ and ‘Looking Back’ they’ve seen immense support internationally from BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6, Triple R, FBi Radio, Double J, TIDAL, NME, So Young Magazine, Pilerats, Demure, When The Horn Blows and more. Live, ENOLA is an enigmatic and captivating performer, holding their audiences close, and in 2023 alone have been hand-selected to support Sleaford Mods, Jen Cloher, RVG, Cash Savage and the Last Drinks, performed at Dark Mofo, RISING, Brunswick Music Festival and OK Motels among others.

All that said, what drives ENOLA at their core, beyond reaching any particular sound, is their desire to reach people, “What moves me the most is a willingness to be vulnerable, and whatever you’re saying, for it to be really sincere.”