New music group Spinifex Gum have revealed themselves to the world in a big way.
The fresh project from The Cat Empire‘s Felix Riebl and Ollie McGill have unleashed their affecting debut single dubbed ‘Locked Up’, a collaborative effort with Aussie rapper Briggs and Marliya of Cairns’ all-female indigenous teenage vocal ensemble Gondwana Choirs.
The politically-fuelled single takes aim at the disproportionate rate and sickening treatment of Indigenous Youth in juvenile detention, with Briggs’ verses highlighting the economic, social and political injustices suffered by local communities in the far north of Australia.
“Maximum punishment, rehab is minimal, treat them like that you just make them better criminals… Why’re the kids locked up? Take this silence and blow it up,” the A.B. Original MC raps from behind barbed wire walls in the powerful music video for the track.
The song’s arrival is timely, as it comes ahead of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory delivering its findings in November, after a third big delay.
‘Locked Up’ is the first song to be taken off Spinifex Gum’s debut album, which will feature a bunch of other guest vocalists in “a song cycle reflecting the dramatic contrasts of the Pilbara region of Northern WA”.
The disc is due for release on 27th October, but for now, you can check out its debut single ‘Locked Up’ below.
