Album: triple j Live At The Wireless - One Night Stand, St Helens TAS 2018 by Alex the Astronaut (2020)
Genre: Alternative
Record Label: ABC Music / MGM
Format: Live

Related Artists: Thelma Plum, Alex Lahey, Bluejuice, Camp Cope

Music Scene: Emerged in the 1990s era.

Tags: Alternative, 2020s, Live, ABC Music / MGM


Album: How to Grow a Sunflower Underwater by Alex the Astronaut (2022)
Genre: Alternative
Record Label: Nettwerk Music Group
Format: Album

Description: Few artists do relatable as well as Alex the Astronaut. “I moved into a new house this week/There’s still 47 boxes but we set up our TV,” she sings on “Haunted”. The singer-songwriter is also one of the most original lyricists around—witness the opening line of “Octopus” (a song inspired by her autism diagnosis): “Have I told you about octopuses’ skin? They change their colour with chromatophores.” In Alex’s hands, however, such exercises in the mundanity of everyday life (and octopus biology) often give way to deeply personal revelations that can stun. 

Her work as a caretaker informs the devastating “Sick” (“I can’t wipe the tears from your eyes/I can’t tell you you’ll be fine/How could I tell that lie?”), while “Airport” ponders the emotional pressure of being reunited with a partner after a period of forced separation due to COVID (“When I hold you, will it feel the same?”). With the album’s title inspired by Alex’s fondness for snorkelling during lockdown—the sunflower reference represents the search for positivity in dark times—tracks such as “Growing Up” and “Something Good” find the songwriter embellishing her trademark mix of indie and folk with a kaleidoscopic melange of lush strings and percussion, all under the watchful eyes of co-producers (and Ball Park Music members) Sam Cromack and Dan and Dean Hanson. It makes for a record that’s as sonically detailed as it is emotionally complex.

Related Artists: Thelma Plum, Alex Lahey, Bluejuice, Camp Cope

Music Scene: Emerged in the 1990s era.

Tags: Alternative, 2020s, Album, Nettwerk Music Group


Few artists do relatable as well as Alex the Astronaut. “I moved into a new house this week/There’s still 47 boxes but we set up our TV,” she sings on “Haunted”. The singer-songwriter is also one of the most original lyricists around—witness the opening line of “Octopus” (a song inspired by her autism diagnosis): “Have I told you about octopuses’ skin? They change their colour with chromatophores.” In Alex’s hands, however, such exercises in the mundanity of everyday life (and octopus biology) often give way to deeply personal revelations that can stun. 

Her work as a caretaker informs the devastating “Sick” (“I can’t wipe the tears from your eyes/I can’t tell you you’ll be fine/How could I tell that lie?”), while “Airport” ponders the emotional pressure of being reunited with a partner after a period of forced separation due to COVID (“When I hold you, will it feel the same?”). With the album’s title inspired by Alex’s fondness for snorkelling during lockdown—the sunflower reference represents the search for positivity in dark times—tracks such as “Growing Up” and “Something Good” find the songwriter embellishing her trademark mix of indie and folk with a kaleidoscopic melange of lush strings and percussion, all under the watchful eyes of co-producers (and Ball Park Music members) Sam Cromack and Dan and Dean Hanson. It makes for a record that’s as sonically detailed as it is emotionally complex.

Album: The Theory of Absolutely Nothing by Alex the Astronaut (2020)
Genre: Indie Pop
Record Label: Minkowski Records
Format: Album

Description: In 2017, Alex the Astronaut’s “Not Worth Hiding” became an unofficial anthem for Australia’s same-sex marriage plebiscite. Nearly three years later, the self-acceptance track has been followed up by a debut album that delves much further into the Sydney singer-songwriter’s own story, and her observation of others’. Alex—born Alexandra Lynn—began releasing music while studying maths and physics in New York, and while her academic background often makes its way into her work (“So through the stars/Right past Jupiter, Saturn and Mars,” she sings on “Christmas in July”), not to mention her stage name, it’s when she zeroes in on people’s personal stories, much like countrywoman Courtney Barnett, that The Theory of Absolutely Nothing truly takes flight. “Banksia” is a touching ode to a young life lost that displays a keen Joni Mitchell-inspired eye for observation. “I Like to Dance”, the most affecting song on the album, is a gentle, percussion-free number about a relationship gradually souring where the story has a gut-punch of a twist. There are much brighter songs on offer too, such as the aptly named “Happy Song”, where Alex’s sing-along busker persona is at its finest. In fact, for an album in the folk storytelling tradition, The Theory of Absolutely Nothing certainly busts out a rousing chorus or a dose of “la-la-las” when it needs to.

Related Artists: Thelma Plum, Alex Lahey, Bluejuice, Camp Cope

Music Scene: Emerged in the 1990s era.

Tags: Indie Pop, 2020s, Album, Minkowski Records

In 2017, Alex the Astronaut’s “Not Worth Hiding” became an unofficial anthem for Australia’s same-sex marriage plebiscite. Nearly three years later, the self-acceptance track has been followed up by a debut album that delves much further into the Sydney singer-songwriter’s own story, and her observation of others’. Alex—born Alexandra Lynn—began releasing music while studying maths and physics in New York, and while her academic background often makes its way into her work (“So through the stars/Right past Jupiter, Saturn and Mars,” she sings on “Christmas in July”), not to mention her stage name, it’s when she zeroes in on people’s personal stories, much like countrywoman Courtney Barnett, that The Theory of Absolutely Nothing truly takes flight. “Banksia” is a touching ode to a young life lost that displays a keen Joni Mitchell-inspired eye for observation. “I Like to Dance”, the most affecting song on the album, is a gentle, percussion-free number about a relationship gradually souring where the story has a gut-punch of a twist. There are much brighter songs on offer too, such as the aptly named “Happy Song”, where Alex’s sing-along busker persona is at its finest. In fact, for an album in the folk storytelling tradition, The Theory of Absolutely Nothing certainly busts out a rousing chorus or a dose of “la-la-las” when it needs to.

Alex the Astronaut

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