Bittersweet Breakfast

Asha Bright – she’s new to the Atomic scene, but you’ve probably seen her first single, BURNT TOAST AND MARMALADE, on the Stream Space lately. After chatting with her via email (COVID, you suck) I’ve learnt that her preferred stage name is simply ASHA, that she lives in Beechworth Vic, and that she still can’t cross the border (again, COVID, you suck).

ASHA has loved music her whole life. She used to live in Byron Bay, which in her words is such a music-oriented place, as there were always people playing music in the streets and markets. Seeing this all the time made her realise that it’s what she wanted to do.

She started performing at the young age of 11. She joined a Jazz Academy in Wangaratta which opened the door to gigs at pubs and venues in the local area. After gigging for a while, she then formed a duo with a friend called ‘The Inner Vision’, which actually lead them to go on a music exchange over in the UK in 2019. ASHA is currently in year 10 at school, so she was only in year 9 when she was supporting Ruby Fields and Baker Boy at their All Ages Tour in the UK!

Pre-COVID ‘The Inner Vision’ used to gig around quite a bit at local festivals and pubs, but ASHA made the decision to go solo right when COVID hit, so she hasn’t even had the chance to gig on her own yet. Once COVID goes away and gigs start happening again (which is hopefully soon), ASHA is keen to get back into gigs and the social aspect of it all as meeting other artists is a big one for ASHA – she’s such a social person and this lockdown has been a bit difficult for her, but it has given her the opportunity to write more songs.

2020 brought ASHA to the decision to do her own thing and go her own way, and I’m just in awe of people so young pursuing their dreams and making things happen. You go girl!

Talking to ASHA about her debut single BURNT TOAST AND MARMALADE, she gave me the rundown of how it came to be and how it got it’s very unique name, “I wrote this tune when I was driving back from grocery shopping, I was listening to some Smashing Pumpkins and I was just in awe of Billy Corgan’s lyric writing skills, then I happened to drive past a fire, which to me smelt like burnt toast and marmalade (I know, it’s totally weird to even think the smoke smelt like burnt toast and marmalade, but to me it did) hence the title of the song! Lol! But I wrote the lyrics Burnt Toast and Marmalade down on the notes in my phone and thought, I’m going to try to write a song as good as a Smashing Pumpkins song! I definitely didn’t quite get to the point of writing a song anywhere near as good as them, but I definitely tried, I wrote this song about 3 months ago maybe, I had planned to go into the studio to record a completely different song but then I wrote this, last minute and decided to record BURNT TOAST AND MARMALADE instead.”

Naturally, I then had to ask if she actually likes burnt toast and marmalade, and the response was (as I thought it would be), ” I feel like burnt toast and marmalade wouldn’t taste very good, no. But I got the concept of relating someones love to it, where the marmalade is sweet and the burnt toast would be bitter – like a bittersweet relationship” .

Since ASHA uploaded her single to the Atomic Stream space it has been up on the trending chart and placed tenth on the Atomic Countdown as well. It’s been fairly successful and I can’t wait to hear more of her stuff on the Stream Space! Unfortunately, though, that might be a while away (again, COVID, you suck). The studio ASHA records at is across the border, so she can’t actually record anything new, BUT she did tell me that we can keep an eye out on her socials for sneak peaks at different songs she’s been writing!

So if you’re in need of a new tune to listen to, I highly recommend BURNT TOAST AND MARMALADE. Banger of a tune and good vibes. Can’t wait to hear more of ASHA.