Alex Lahey

Alex Lahey was born in 1992 and grew up in Melbourne with her mother, Vicki, her father Bill and her brother, Will.[2] At 13-years-old she started learning saxophone and guitar.[3] She started university courses in both jazz and the arts but dropped out of the jazz component to join a local pop group, Animaux, on vocals and saxophone.[3] After completing her arts degree Lahey decided to start a solo music career.[3]

In June 2016 Lahey won the Josh Pyke Partnership, for unsigned artists, which is co-sponsored by Pyke, Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS).[4] She received a AUD$7500 grant, a song writing mentorship from Pyke and introduction to music industry officials.[4] Lahey won the prize ahead of 200 entries and Pyke explained, "the song she submitted was immediately stuck in my head, and her lyrics were compelling and clever. Her turn of phrase was quirky and intelligent, and really relatable... I reckon most of us have been in the situation that's portrayed in the song 'You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me'."[4]

"You Don't Think You Like People Like Me" also received Pitchfork's Best New Track Award,[3][4] and it was listed in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2016 at No. 97.[5] Lahey subsequently won a Triple J Unearthed prize, leading to a performance slot at Splendour in the Grass and a nomination for a J Award as Unearthed Artist of the Year.

Lahey's debut extended play (EP), B-Grade University, was released on 29 July 2016, via Caroline Australia Records with distribution by Universal Music Australia.[6] For the five tracks Lahey provided vocals, guitar, saxophone and keyboards; she was joined by Oscar Dawson on guitar, vocals, percussion and keyboards; Sam Humphrey on guitar; Kai Chen Lim on bass guitar; and Lachie McGeehan on drums.[7] Dawson also produced, engineered and mixed the EP.[7] It reached No. 95 on the ARIA Top 100 Physical Albums and No. 8 on the ARIA Hitseekers Albums charts.[8]

In January 2017 Lahey signed to the Dead Oceans label, which re-released her EP.[9] On 6 October 2017 she issued her debut album, I Love You Like a Brother, through her own independent label, Nicky Boy Records/Dead Oceans via Caroline Australia/Universal Music Australia.[1][10] It reached No. 15 on the ARIA Albums Chart;[1] Laura Stanley of Under the Radar observed, "[she] shares scenes from her own period of self-discovery, which makes for a fierce and incredibly fun debut full-length... the record standouts happen when Lahey and her bandmates zoom through spells of heartache with candidness and in a sharp pop-punk style."[11]

I Love You Like a Brother was placed on several albums-of-the-year lists, including Bandcamp Daily (at No. 40),[12] Noisey,[13] the Sydney Morning Herald,[14] Under the Radar, BrooklynVegan, and redbull.com.[15] Spin Magazine would also cite the album as one of the magazine's 13 "Favorite Overlooked Albums of 2017".[16] After touring Australia through October 2017, Lahey undertook an international tour of US and Europe from December 2017 and April 2018.[17] At the ARIA Music Awards of 2018 she was nominated for Breakthrough Artist – Release.[18]