The Australian song and act was revealed on March 6th (Australia time) - with the première of the song on the Eurovision Song Contest youtube channel. Little information was known, or leaked, about the song or representative until the official presentation. The Australian song for Malmö is "One Milkali (One Blood)" by Electric Fields.
The duo Electric Fields is made up of Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross. Their music style is mainly electronic with soul qualities, integrating many aspects of Aboriginal culture and sing in a mixture of Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and English. The pair have been performing as Electric Fields since 2015. Singer Zaachariaha Fielding grew up in Mimili, in the APY lands of South Australia.He has an academic background in Indigenous Australian music and is also a prize winning visual artist. The other half of the duo is Michael Ross; singer, songwriter, pianist and producer from Adelaide. Both were contestants on X Factor Australia albeit it on different editions of the show. Although their discography is not extensive - considering they have been around for almost a decade - they are a prolific live band and have been nominated many times for numerous National Indigenous Music Awards, National Live Music Awards and ARIAS for their live performances. February 2019, they attempted to represent Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest with their song "2000 and Whatever". Although they were a solid fan favourite, they came second in both the jury and audience vote and were second overall behind Kate Miller-Heidke.
This song is very much in the Electric Fields signature style. The song begins with a short verse which has very minimal backing. The track then starts to grow during the pre-chorus and then the chorus proper. The outro part of the chorus is where the beat and the vocal really soars into something anthemic. During verse two the vocals are taken over by Michael which gives the song a slightly different feel but keeps the energy going forward. This time round, the outro of the chorus fades out and is replaced by some digeridoo which actually adds to the earthy, grounded feel of the song. The outro here is much extended and goes on until the end of the song.
The accompanying music video is very plain and doesn't reflect the outstanding live performances they are known for. Some have commented it is rather intense, bordering on intrusive, and slightly boring. Having the words on screen slightly helps driving the beat but isn't really needed as Zaachariaha's voice is so clear. On first listen I found this a little bit plodding and I had to concentrate quite a lot on what was happening. One second listen, however, I enjoyed the song much more and got into the vibe much easier. I feel like this is a song that just needs to listened to (and hopefully also watched) and not overly critiqued. This is all about the feels and the atmosphere. I can really imagine the last minute being all about the crowd waving their hands in the air - and their flags too. Most times when an act unveils a music video for their song, I feel reserved as I would really love to know how this can be performed live. In this case, though, I feel very sure about their live ability - in particular their vocal reliability. I would suspect there will be some kind of Aboriginal aspect to the backdrop, their clothing and potential dancers/musicians. I imagine that this stage show will look and feel very Australian and I think that this will have little problem qualifying. I might even suggest this song will do better in the final than the semis as I would hope the juries would reward their live credentials.
ARTIST - Electric Fields
SONG - One Milkali (One Blood)"
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Zaachariaha Fielding, Michael Ross
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