Ask Xani Kolac (Clare Bowditch, Tim Rogers, My Friend the Chocolate Cake, Martin Martini & the Bone Palace Orchestra) to describe her latest batch of songs for her debut solo project, XANI, and she’ll tell you that there are “songs about being needy and songs that are downright depressing”. These are not words that spring to mind when one encounters electric violinist and AU Review Best Live Instrumentalist nominee, Xani, onstage or off. Being a naturally energetic and bubbly performer, Kolac toes the line in her songwriting perfectly between being “happy but kind of sad”.

XANI has just released her debut EP, simply titled, “1”, four tracks laid thick with country guitar, crooning backing vocals delivered by Olivia Nathan, Jacinta Caruana and Rex Sutton, and Kolac’s own trademark strings that shimmer and soar throughout. Catch XANI with her band live at The Post office Hotel on June 18th featuring Mark Leahy on drums (The Twoks), Cristian Barbieri on guitar (Billy Davis) and Josh Jones on bass (Dan Sultan).