Melbourne based singer-songwriter Duxie Franklin is an artist not quite like any other. With her sharp and poignant brand of indie-rock, Franklin has already established herself as an emerging artist to watch.
So fresh off the release of her latest single Watch Your Soul Sink, we’re listing 10 facts that you (probably) didn’t know about Duxie Franklin.
Fresh off the release of her incredible second single Watch Your Soul Sink, we’re listing 10 things you didn’t know about Duxie Franklin.
1. Duxie is a multi-disciplinary artist
In addition to composing music, Duxie paints, draws, sews, crafts and directs all her music videos and live shows. In Duxie’s words, “I think I could equally be a painter or designer but with my music career, I kinda get to do it all. As long as I’m being creative and working on projects, I’m happy.”
2. Duxie is half Austrian, half Zimbabwean but Australian born and raised
Duxie’s mother is from Austria, famous for being the birthplace of Mozart and the setting for The Sound of Music. Her father is from Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), in southeastern Africa. They immigrated to Australia in the late 80s, where Duxie and her sister were born. Duxie has visited both countries and speaks German.
3. Duxie moved to Australia’s southernmost city to study at the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music
“Moving to Hobart was the greatest thing I could have done for my songwriting and art.” Duxie credits living in Tasmania with freeing up her artistic side and providing bucket loads of inspiration. Her second single, Watch Your Soul Sink, is Duxie’s ode to the state and the music video was filmed at a model village of historic Hobart.
4. Duxie used to train 6 hours a day for tennis
As an aspiring professional tennis player, Duxie competed on the Australian tournament circuit, reaching the top 200 in Australian rankings. After a snapped ACL and full knee reconstruction, Duxie’s sporting ambitions came to a grinding halt (she was also competing in Premier League Netball and did the occasional triathlon). However, Duxie tries to focus on the positives: “As much as I miss it, the silver lining is that the end of my sporting life was the beginning of my musical one. I suddenly had all this free time and nothing but my creativity to fill it.”
5. Duxie follows Koalaism – the religion of koala worship
Duxie is a devout follower of Koalaism – the belief that koalas are divine creatures on this earth and that it is every human’s duty to nurture and protect them. Chief among them is her personal deity, Billy. Check out her music videos for sneaky koala cameos.
6. Duxie’s flamboyant outfits and quirky personality did not fit the corporate mould
As immortalized in her first single, Duxie’s attempts to ‘Get a Real Job’ only served to stifle her vivid imagination. Her colourful dress style raised eyebrows and attempts to spice up company documents with wildly fun animal prints were met with slightly bemused disapproval.
7. Duxie’s first instrument is piano
Despite performing primarily on guitar and ukulele, Duxie started out on piano and still feels most at home when tinkling the ivories. She began teaching herself guitar at age 19 when she realized its advantages for songwriting and gigging. “I would perform on piano much more if I could but my road crew can’t quite manage the logistics yet. One day!”
8. Duxie runs songwriting boot camps – for herself!
Duxie applies the discipline and rigour she developed in elite sports training to her songwriting. She routinely challenges herself to speed-write a song in one hour using an isolated lyric or musical prompt. She repeats this process with a different prompt every day for six days and on the seventh day (instead of resting!) she chooses the best couple of songs and workshops them further.
9. Duxie plays electric rock violin
Classically trained on violin, Duxie loves to play electrically using her multi-effects pedalboard. Duxie enthuses, “I’ve had this longstanding dream of playing lead in an epic 80s rock covers band, shredding all the solos on violin!”
10. Duxie is obsessed with Taiwanese bubble tea
She loves the sweet beverage so much that she has experimented with making her own recipes at home and even considered opening her own Australian-Asian fusion bubble tea store, which she would name ‘Top Koala-tea’.
Watch Your Soul Sink is available now. Listen here.
