Australian ex-Mormon Harmony Byrne keeps it bluesy on "Demise"

The Australian musician – the third of seven children – may have shaken off her Mormon upbringing, but its influences still cast long shadows on her songwriting. The gravitas afforded to her voice through her church singer past finds a worthy home alongside haunting guitar and lazy, rolling drums. Around the halfway mark of this seven-minute epic, Byrne's voice escalates to a confessional howl as we're able to hear her test the limits of her astonishing vocal capabilities. She then allows her Australian accent to shine through on a spoken word segment, in which the delivery of maxims like "divinity is humankind" feels like a sermon of sorts. The track gains momentum as Byrne's voice breaks with passion, building once again towards that penetrating and profound cry.

Byrne's grasp of contrast – her ability to match stunning range, capability, and emotion with coolness and restraint – make "Demise" one of this year's most compelling releases thus far.