Image Credit: Jamie Wdziekonski

Bellarine folk alchemist Leah Senior unveils new single ‘Softly, Once Again’ and announces national tour

Leah Senior is back with locally dedicated album.

Leah Senior, one of Australia’s most enchanting folk voices, has shared her second single, “Softly, Once Again”, from her forthcoming fifth studio album Pt. Roadknight, due June 19 via Third Eye Stimuli (AU) and SPINSTER (USA). The release comes alongside the announcement of a national tour, with dates spanning VIC, NSW, QLD, and ACT—including regional stops in Meeniyan, Eltham, Bellingen, Beechworth, and Warrnambool.

LEAH SENIOR AND HER BAND PT. ROADKNIGHT — AUSTRALIAN TOUR

Presented by Third Eye Stimuli and House of Webb

Saturday 20 June – Meeniyan Town Hall, Meeniyan, VIC

Friday 26 June – The Junk Bar, Brisbane, QLD

Saturday 27 June – Eltham Hotel, Eltham, NSW

Sunday 28 June – Bellingen Golf Club, Bellingen, NSW

Saturday 4 July – Petersham Bowling Club, Sydney, NSW

Saturday 18 July – The Tote, Melbourne, VIC // matinee

Saturday 25 July – Martians Saloon, Deans Marsh, VIC

Saturday 1 August – Mozart Hall, Warrnambool, VIC

Sunday 2 August – Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine, VIC // matinee

Friday 7 August – Old Stone Hall, Beechworth, VIC

Sunday 9 August – Gang Gang Café, Canberra, ACT

Keep connected to your live music scene here.

Following the warmly received ‘Mothersong’, praised by Rage (Feature Video), Raven Sings the Blues (USA) and Double J, Leah continues to reveal the delicate, introspective textures of her baroque psych-folk. Henry Wagons of Double J has hailed her as a “baroque psych-folk mastermind,” a description that feels almost too modest for her luminous craft.

On ‘Softly, Once Again’, Senior navigates the tension between introspective creation and public declaration, offering a wry reflection on Melbourne’s saturated punk scene:
So many punk bands in this town / So little said, for all that sound / Should I hitch my wagon to the band / And shout it out as loud as I can / Or play it softly once again.

“This began as a cheeky imagining of myself as a quaint folk lady amid a world of rock,” Leah explains. “I wrote it during the release of my last album, grappling with the pressure to make noise, and it became permission to do things softly.”

Musically, the track is a tender companion to ‘Mothersong’, blending intricate melodies, Beatles-inspired flourishes, and playful baroque textures. Contributions from Hank Clifton-Williamson (flute) and Liam McGorry (horn), alongside Jack Robbins and Luke Brennan’s lively rhythm section, Jesse Williams on electric guitar, and Leah’s sister Andi harmonising throughout, give the track a warm, collaborative vitality.

The single is paired with an animated visualiser by Luke Player, bringing the song’s pastoral whimsy to life: a horse-drawn carriage ambles across rolling landscapes, spring flowers bloom, a kettle whistles on the stove, and a woman emerges from an egg—a surreal, dreamlike reflection of the music itself.

Leah’s fifth album, Pt. Roadknight, finds her at her most introspective yet playful, rooted in the coastal beauty of her Bellarine upbringing and her creative retreat in a sandstone beach shack along a red dirt road in Anglesea. The record captures the rhythm of the seasons and the ebb and flow of solitude and social bustle, marrying ’70s British folk influences with a distinctly contemporary, heartfelt lyricism that examines gentrification, isolation, and the quiet magic of the natural world.

A decade-long mainstay of Australia’s folk landscape, Leah has shared stages with Wilco, Iron & Wine, Simon Joyner, Jessica Pratt, and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Her Pt. Roadknight tour promises to bring the album’s textured, emotive landscapes to life for audiences across the nation.

‘Softly, Once Again’ is released today Thursday, May 14 via Third Eye Stimuli and SPINSTER.

Pt. Roadknight will follow on June 19, available on vinyl, CD, and digital formats.

To grab tickets to see Leah Senior live, head here.