Waking Up is the new album from local singer songwriter Tash Parker, one time resident of that far off Australian marvel, The Kimberleys. Listening to Tash Parker is like stumbling across a secret patch of serenity in the middle of a crowded city. Part of you wants to call a friend, to tell them about your discovery, but another voice in the back of your head tells you to keep the place a secret, keep it yours. Only picking up the guitar as a teenager, Tash quickly wowed contemporaries and was invited at the age of eighteen to support The Waifs.

She learned the national and international touring ropes by working for Gotye as a drum tech (her partner is Wally de Backer, aka Gotye) and has herself toured extensively up and down the East Coast, playing at The Troubadour and The Joynt in Brisbane; as well as Notes, Raval, The Brass Monkey and Old Manly Boat Shed in Sydney. Her lyrics are deeply personal, yet somehow familiar, and the arrangements are original without being exclusive. Like all quality artists, Tash grabs you upon first listen and then shakes you upon second, third and fourth listens.

In this sense, her music simultaneously works on two levels; at surface, it's fun and poppy; at bottom, it's powerfully evocative art. Having supported Paul Greene, Liz Stringer, The Basics and Tin Pan Orange, and played on the same stages as Kate Ceberano, Bondi Cigars, Mental as Anything and various others, Tash is mature in musical wisdom well beyond her young age.