‘Melbourne’ is the new single from Australian trio Howling Bells, comprised of vocalist and guitarist Juanita Stein, her brother and guitarist Joel Stein and drummer Glenn Moule. While the rhythm and guitar is insistent and the vocal melody is sweetly memorable, the song is steeped in lyrical sadness. It’s a nostalgic journey back home, only to find it changed in your absence, and what you had there is lost forever. The words are direct and grounded in narrative detail, making them all the more powerful and poignant: “I’m going back to Melbourne // But my house is now a hip café // And all sidewalks have been cleaned up // Everybody’s moved away.” ‘Melbourne’ aches with loss and longing, conveyed with tuneful beauty by singer Juanita Stein.
Juanita explains: “‘Melbourne’ is a song about deep yearning and ultimately grief. It explores a unique inner conflict many of us feel when we leave our homes and families to start anew somewhere else. This aching can be especially intense when we’re faced with something traumatic and all we want is the safety and warm embrace of the familiar. I experienced a heightened version of this when I returned to Melbourne a few years ago to play some shows, having not been back for a while. It felt slightly surreal and tragic being there without any family to share this with, as they had also left Australia over the years. Then, within 24 hours of touchdown, I got a call from a hospital in England telling me that my father, who was ill, had taken a turn for the worse, and so I had to pack up and return to the UK before I’d even played a show. It was brutal. I felt a thousand things that day, from the physical weight of having to lug around 2 huge suitcases full of merch I was planning to unload, to sitting alone in tears at the airport in Singapore during the layover. All these experiences left me with a deep well of sadness and a longing to return to my homeland to find what it is I’d now lost forever. This is something I carry around with me every day. All it takes is the glimmer of the sun at a certain time of day, or the occasional scent of an eucalyptus tree, or the sharp twinge of nostalgia when I hear the melody of a particular song, to remind me of the sadness and beauty that is now my Australia.”
This is the final single before the release of “Strange Life”, the trio’s first album in over twelve years. Due out on 13th February 2026, the album promises songs that are typically dreamy and dark, reflective and atmospheric. Building on their previous work, there are added layers of experience and wisdom. Juanita says: “If you’re not able to acknowledge the mistakes and the pain and make beautiful music out of it, then they’re left festering inside of you. And I don’t ever want that to happen.” Indeed, and the Howling Bells have certainly made beautiful music out of their experiences.
