Stella Donnelly

Like the many Banded Stilts that spread across the cover of her newest album Flood, Stella Donnelly is wading into uncharted territory. Here, she finds herself discovering who she is as an artist among the flock, and how abundant one individual can be. Flood is Donnelly’s record of this rediscovery: the product of months of risky experimentation, hard moments of introspection, and a lot of moving around. 

Donnelly’s early reflections on the relationship between the individual and the many can be traced back to her time in the rainforests of Bellingen, where she took to birdwatching as both a hobby and an escape in a border-restricted world. By paying closer attention to the natural world around her, Donnelly recalls “I was able to lose that feeling of anyone’s reaction to me. I forgot who I was as a musician, which was a humbling experience of just being; being my small self.” Reconnecting with this ‘small self’ allowed Donnelly to tap into creative wells she didn’t know existed.

Looking back at the Banded Stilt, Donnelly ultimately appreciates how when “seen in a crowd they create an optical illusion, but on its own it’s this singular piece of art.” While each song in Flood is a singular artwork unto itself, the collective shares all of Stella Donnelly in abundance: her inner child, her nurturing self, her nightmare self; all of herself has gone into the making of this record, and although it would take an ocean to fathom everything she feels, it’s well worth diving in.

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Yn debyg i’r adar hirgoes niferus sydd wedi’u gwasgaru ar draws clawr ei halbwm diweddaraf Flood, mae Stella Donnelly hefyd yn mentro i dir newydd. Yma, mae’n mynd ati i ddarganfod pwy yw hi fel artist ymhlith y dorf a pha mor helaeth y gall un unigolyn bod. Flood yw cofnod Donnelly o’r ailddarganfod hwn: cynnyrch misoedd o arbrofi mentrus, eiliadau anodd o hunanholi, a llawer o symud o gwmpas.

Gellir olrhain myfyrdodau cynnar Donnelly ar y berthynas rhwng yr unigolyn a’r niferus yn ôl i’w hamser yn fforestydd glaw Bellingen, lle ddechreuodd wylio adar fel hobi a dihangfa mewn byd a gyfyngir gan ffiniau. Wrth sylwi’n fwy manwl ar y byd naturiol o’i chwmpas, mae Donnelly yn cofio “Fe wnes i lwyddo i golli’r teimlad hwnnw o ymateb unrhyw tuag ataf. Anghofiais pwy oeddwn i fel cerddor, a oedd yn brofiad diymhongar o jest bod; bod yn fi fy hunan bach.” Roedd ailgysylltu â’r ‘hunan bach’ hwn yn caniatáu i Donnelly fanteisio ar ffynhonnau creadigol nad oedd yn gwybod oedd yn bodoli.

Wrth edrych yn ôl ar yr aderyn hirgoes, mae Donnelly yn y pen draw yn gwerthfawrogi sut “pan maen nhw gyda’i gilydd fel haid, maen nhw’n creu rhith optegol, ond ar ei ben ei hun, mae’r aderyn yn ddarn o gelf unigol.” Tra bod pob cân yn Flood yn ddarn o waith celf unigol, mae’r albwm cyfan yn rhannu Stella Donnelly yn ei chyfanrwydd helaeth: ei phlentyn mewnol, ei hunan meithringar, ei hunan hunllefus; mae wedi rhoi ei hun yn gyfan gwbl i wneud y cofnod hwn, ac er y byddai'n cymryd tragwyddoldeb i ddeall popeth mae hi'n ei deimlo, mae plymio i mewn yn werth chweil.

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