THE WORLD'S BEST NEW MUSIC

South African-born, Naarm/Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Ruby Gill has built a reputation as one of indie-folk’s most original and evocative narrative poets. Characterized by razor-sharp wit, hyper-vulnerable lyricism, Gill shuns predictable verse-chorus formats in favor of sweeping, folk-tale prose. Her music navigates complex emotional landscapes, including queer romance, generational trauma, societal grief, and personal identity, with a combination of conversational ease, wicked humor and disarming intimacy. Backed by timeless, always-engaging folk-rock arrangements, Gill'snew album elevates her stature, at the forefront of contemporary narrative songwriting.

On Fishing Is Not About Fishing, her third album - following "Some Kind of Control" (2025) and "I'm gonna die witrh a smile on my face" (2022) - Gill delivers an extraordinary work of narrative songwriting in which she approaches her tracks as sprawling, prose-like poems set to music. The album’s strength lies in its stunning collection of insightful narratives. In the biblical, seven-part progression of "Lord, let me be a pastry chef," Gill maps out self-actualization through vivid vignettes of riding horses, political protest in Cape Town, queer devotion, and family crisis. "Carol, Not Carol" frames a harrowing car crash as a quiet apology, juxtaposing violent imagery with mundane reflections on road trains and missed satellite signals. Elsewhere, "Jamie" delivers a staggering, ethereal confrontation with past authority figures and lost innocence and songs like "Jacaranda" and "A crush on a firefuighter at an appropriate time" mix wry humor, observation and regional specificity with consumate, creative skill. Similarly, the disarming title track presents a daughter's appreciation and forgiveness, as an adult, of a loving but mostly absent parent with generosity born of wisdom.

Line for line, Gill invites direct comparison with the heavyweights of literary songcraft. She commands the visceral, unfiltered emotional urgency of Fiona Apple, the conversational, socio-political punch of Ani DiFranco, and the dry, observational Australian specificity of Courtney Barnett. Yet Gill’s voice remains entirely her own. Fishing Is Not About Fishing is a breathtaking, deeply human triumph that solidifies her place as a master storyteller.