Welcome to the world of Saint Victoire. The alt-folk-rock band from the outer suburbs of Melbourne has returned with a new EP, I Once Loved You, Summer. With frontwoman Heidi Waddell's clever, vulnerable lyricism dancing over the soft rock production, it's a layered, rich collection of songs inspired by the summertime. “Summer is meant to be the time we make our happiest memories, so when things were falling apart, I realised I was holding a lot of sadness and frustration toward it," Heidi said. "The Mill is one of the more upbeat, universal ideas on the EP, and while it doesn’t directly mention summer, it still carries that same feeling of frustration and the longing for change. It speaks to the exhaustion everyone was feeling during that time—and maybe still is.” We spoke to the musician about crafting these songs and what's next:

For those who don’t yet know, introduce us to Saint Victoire. How would you define yourselves as artists/a band and the kind of music you’re making?

I would hope that Saint Victoire would come to be known and defined as a band who are making really honest, truthful music. Musically, I’d say we live somewhere between alt-folk and 70s inspired rock, but there are influences from all over the place in our sound. People have told me they don’t think we’re folk at all, while others will only define us as that. But I mean, we have mandolin and banjo, so some say we could be classed as country-adjacent. I don’t think we’re too precious about that. Whatever is necessary to tell the story in the best way possible, I think that’s what we are trying to achieve.

I realise I’ve always been drawn to that anti-elitist kind of sentiment from bands like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Five Man Electrical Band, and artists like Springsteen and Bob Dylan, of course. That message really meant something to me as a kid who came from a very modest upbringing. I think humanity has a strange relationship with materialism, and the by-product of that is a lot of people left really struggling. Thematically, I think that’s the main stuff we’re here to address in our music and to do our best to speak hope into the times.

We love your new track The Mill and are very excited for your upcoming EP. Tell us about what inspired this EP and what your intention was with it?

Oh, thank you so much! We didn’t originally set out to create an EP, I had written a few songs, some of which we’d already been performing at our shows. Last summer in 2024 turned out to be just a horrible one. Many of my friends and loved ones were experiencing personal losses and I was also going through some really awful stuff myself, and I just felt like there was no way I could cope with it all, trying to be there for everyone I was being stretched so thin and feeling really selfish for the fact that I couldn’t do more because of my own mental state. I sat down and wrote How It All Came Down, and it was at that moment I realised that the EP needed to be made. I knew I had one more song I needed to write, which is the final track called Summer Chapter. We named the EP I Once Loved You, Summer which is a line taken from that song. I guess the intention came from the realisation that I couldn’t be everywhere all at once and be there all the time for everyone who needs it. I’m only human, and the only thing I could do was create songs that can go where I can’t. I think it’s a gift that a song can be a way of wrapping your arms around someone who is far beyond your actual reach.

Who do you work with on your music that helps to shape your sound?

We work on our sound together as a band. I’m so privileged to be surrounded by these amazing guys, each of them with their own distinct talents. Jono (keys), Sam (bass), Gray (drums) and I have been playing music together for years and I feel like we all have that kind of telepathic ability when it comes to performing and creating. Tim (electric and vocals) and Zac (mandolin and banjo), I met when Saint Victoire was still taking shape and there was that instant synergy between them and the rest of the band, I can so easily say I trust all of these guys when we’re writing together. We’re pretty locked in on our process, I write the song, bring it to the guys with a bit of a sonic vision and they all just kick it off and try a bunch of things until we like it.

Where did you write the EP? Is there a specific environment conducive to your writing?

Almost every song on this EP was written at home, just in the living room or the bedroom. Wherever the guitar has been sitting really. The only song written elsewhere was You’re Gonna Get There which I actually wrote at a friend’s birthday gathering in lockdown when we could have twenty people together. I grabbed a guitar and it sort of started off as a funny thing to do to write a song for the birthday boy in front of him, then another person would arrive and I’d write another verse and play it for them, then after a bit of that we were all like, hang on, this actually a song. So, I thought I’d surprise them by playing it at our first show and now it’s landed a spot on the EP. It’s not normally like that though. I think I write best when there’s no one at all within earshot because when I’m crafting melodies I need to be able to not feel self-conscious about things sounding really bad before they get to the point of sounding good.

Is there a song on the EP you’re particularly proud of?

Ah, it’s hard to choose, but I think You All The Time is special. That song went through the most iterations before we got it to sound like it does. We even performed it when it sounded like a completely different song. I was driving home from work one day and Jono had sent me a voice memo where he’d re-written the guitar part and the whole vibe was completely different. My first thought was “Oh no, what has he done to the song?” Then I listened a second time and was like “Wait, I can hear it, this could be amazing”. We worked a lot on it. And I just love Tim singing on it. His voice is other-worldly. It’s also the song that gives me the chance to use parts of my voice that I’ve always wanted to go into and just let loose.

What do you hope people take away from this EP? How do you hope it makes them feel?

Man, I really just hope this EP makes people feel alive and makes the heart pump hard. It’s a very raw, live-sounding record. I love live music so much, so even though this is a studio recorded EP, I wanted it to have the essence of a live performance. I want people to feel like they could be in the room with us while we’re playing the songs. The songs themselves are really personal, but I know for me, listening to artists who bring these kinds of offerings have been life changing for me, so I hope these songs will meet whoever needs it right when they need it.

We love the visuals. What was on your moodboard for this EP and era?

I’m so glad to hear! I felt like there was something right about keeping things really close to home visually. I really wanted to use what we have at our disposal and bring to the foreground a lot of the things we usually overlook. We shot a lot around where we live, in the studio, and even had people send in videos of them at work or commuting for our lyric video for the Mill. The songs are about real life, so I wanted the visuals to be from real life too. My moodboard has always been and probably always will be, Francoise Hardy when she was in her twenties, and there’s an American artist called Lissie who I love watching on Youtube—this sounds so random but she did a live cover of a Kid Cudi song, and she’s literally just in a worn-out singlet and jeans and for some reason that seems so rebellious and I love it. That feeling really matched this EP for me and I channel her vibe a lot just in general.

Which artists have been exciting you recently? Who have you been listening to?

I’m just scrolling through my recents…it looks like I almost exclusively listen to Sam Fender haha but no, there’s so many and very all over the place. I’m loving Stevie Nicks, Ryan Adams, the War on Drugs, Gang of Youths, Maggie Rogers. I am also excited about these Aussie artists, they have incredible things going on. I love Gaia Scarf so much, Charlie Collins, Lotte Gallagher and I’m lucky to be singing BVs for Seb Szabo. Watch that star rise.

What’s something you’re passionate about right now, aside from music?

So many things, but I have been working on writing fiction novels for a long time now. I’m sitting on a few manuscripts that I’m really keen to see across the finish line. I would love to find a way to publish them at some point.

What’s next?

I’m very eager to get back to writing more songs and performing. Hopefully, we’ll have some shows in the second half of the year, but in the meantime, there are always new songs bubbling away. I also probably need to start looking for a job…

Listen to Saint Victoire's new EP HERE.

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