Track By Track: Bec Sandridge Spills the Tea on Her New EP 'Lost Dog'

For her new EP, Lost Dog, Bec Sandridge has sharpened her vocal melodies and embraced glossy, synth-driven pop production. The record was influenced by contemporary masters such as Troye Sivan, Daft Punk and Shania Twain. Sandridge worked alongside co-writers and producers Dave Jenkins Jr, Lucy Taylor, Japanese Wallpaper and Tony Buchen, as well as Andy Bull, who sings co-lead vocals on recent single ‘The Jetty’.

Lost Dog is Sandridge’s first release since her 2019 album, Try + Save Me, and her intentions were clear: “The goal was to take time and write my best songs to date,” Sandridge said. Here, Bec Sandridge sheds light on each of the record’s four songs, plus a bonus remix track.

Bec Sandridge: Lost Dog

1. Easy To Go Bad

Bec Sandridge: This one might be my favourite on the EP. It feels the darkest to me and also the most intimate. It’s the feeling of driving for hours while having a stomach ache, wanting to look back but needing to keep your eyes on the present road. Each part of the song feels like a transition in a scene from a movie.

2. Cost of Love

Bec: If Shania Twain and Daft Punk met at an ’80s aerobics class, sweatily hooked up and had a gay baby, she would be named ‘Cost of Love’. I wrote this song with dear pals Lucy Taylor and Dave Jenkins Jr at their apartment in Clovelly, Sydney. At the time, I was stuck in a kind of arm wrestle with myself, weighing up whether a certain relationship was worth it.

The unravelling of a thread, the push and pull in compromise, digging up old and new dirt – it felt like I had lost myself in a relationship that had a relatively frail foundation. Despite the rocky-ness of the whole thing, we kept trying to build upon it beyond the use-by date. We attempted to roll the shit in shit-tonnes of glitter.

This song was my attempt to explore being logical in love and answer the question, “How do you know when to call it before you lose all of yourself and in turn, each other?”

Bec Sandridge – ‘Cost of Love’

3. The Jetty ft. Andy Bull

Bec: ‘The Jetty’ was written about falling off a Jetty in Naoshima, Japan. My ex-partner fell in and I attempted to pull her out. Hilariously, I also fell in – passports, phone, paper-money were all completely gone. This felt like the perfect analogy for our relationship: losing ourselves and each other while trying to salvage every last, water-damaged object that we had on us.

Initially, Andy came into the studio to play synths on the track. I was beyond honoured when he asked if he could sing on the track as well. I’ve been a big Andy Bull fan for a very long time and completely adore what he does vocally, lyrically and the synth sounds he uses.

Dave had the genius idea that we make the track a Joni Mitchell/Don Henley ‘Snakes and Ladders’-esque duet, where Andy drops in and out of the second verse in a non-linear kind of way, which I love. An old collaborator, Tony Buchen did some additional production on the track, which was a nice full-circle moment.

4. Claustrophobia

Bec: I think this is the most interesting one production wise. Dave and I really nerded out on glitchy, spliced up vocals and fuzzed drums. It’s the soundtrack for the moment where you turn up to a place and immediately see someone that you really never want to see. In a small town, that feeling seems somewhat inescapable.

Funnily, this is the first song that we wrote out of the bunch. It was finished almost three years ago but we decided to re-open it for surgery and I’m so glad we did. It feels much more stressful (and claustrophobic).

5. Cost of Love – DENIM Remix

Bec: We love DENIM! I love what Denim does in Mallrat and what Denim does solo and just Denim in general. I met Denim in the midst of the pandemic when we were fortunate enough to play a festival in Darwin. We were the only gals on the lineup and immediately hit it off. Also, who doesn’t love a cowbell? I feel like this remix has strong Robyn vibes.