I’m watching the Australian Open. It’s the same old song-and-dance, a mirthful song-and-dance that needs no change, just a slowly rotating set of tennis dancers. But this year they are dancing to a new song and I’m OK with that. In recent years—2011-2013 if I’m recalling right— the Australian Open TV experience has been IMO enhanced by the commercials for Melbourne tourism featuring the lovely song ‘A Heart Divided’ by Holly Throsby. This year they’ve switched it up and, although it will take a bit more time for me to fully assess the new song, they’ve seemingly captured the wistful beauty that its predecessor embodied. Both are powerfully emotional.
Quick answer: ‘New Night’ by Ali Barter (scroll below to listen)
I’m posting this a) for fun and research and b) because this was legitimately incredibly hard to find. Shazam confoundingly let me know that I was watching the Australian Open, a result of their commercial tagging ostensible feature. Soundhound, nothing—comparatively though nothing was better than something. Desperation ensued. Searching, lots of lyric searching. Pause commercial. Jot line. Repeat. Nothing on Google, a bit more on Twitter, but just related chatter not the answer.
More searching led me to the MTV Artists app (a Shazam competitor that I was previously unaware of and exists in its own app, iPhone only and supporting both Shazam-style sound grabbing and lyric matching, though the latter seems best done on Google, Bing, or Yahoo!.) but that failed to match the song also. This is when I realized the apps weren’t underperforming, but rather that this song was obscure (as is not-on-iTunes-not-on-spotify-not-easily-found-on-google obscure) and potentially a made-for-Melbourne track like some sort of high-brow commercial jingle.
Ultimately I got the answer by texting my friend Mike. I have an outstanding response: “Holy shit. How did you find it?”. Radio silence, the mystery remains but I’m going to return to the brand-new-song…and dance.
Forever YoursCheck out the official Visit Melbourne tourism site >
Holly Throsby – A Heart Divided
Out of: Melbourne AustraliaGenre: Indie/popArtist credentials: singer/songwriterSocial media links:
(Like a laneway leading to another worldLike an oyster holds a secret, holds a pearlThere’s a reason why we’re here now on this earthNo, please don’t say another wordOoooOoooh, OooOooh, on this new nightOoooOoooh, OooOooh under starlightWe, we take a long drive on this new nightOn this new night we will stay
