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Annette

@staringintoacloud

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Analog soul in a digital world.
Writing about records like they write back.
Personal : @annettegeneva.jpeg
#staringintoacloudvinyl

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Lore of the Listening Room. An introduction of sorts.

I didn’t start out collecting records, I started out collecting moments, feelings, emotional spirals that music sends us through. I remember that when I moved countries, I lagged my Dads old records with me everywhere I went. There was always something music-adjacent in my life. A shutter click in a dim greenroom, a singer’s breath caught halfway between confession and chorus, a stack of promo CDs from labels that don’t exist anymore, their logos now little fossils of a music world that once felt endless. Street teams, promo packs, fan mail…that ended up on my very modest desk at a Sydney music distribution company. It was long hours and deals made between drinks. Going to shows and seeing some really good and really terrible live music.

I worked print and online publications that have since disappeared into memory, ghost companies that lived fast and left their fingerprints on my hard drives, my notebooks, my heart. Back then I wrote interviews at 2am,
penned reviews of shows and albums that felt like secret messages and chased the high of a gig where the lights hit just right…

This page is what remains of all that. Thoughts, feelings, music, memories and dust on the record sleeves. A constellation of sound and story. A place where vinyl becomes a kind of time travel and every record carries a pulse if you hold it long enough.

I’m still wandering, still listening, still photographing whatever moves or haunts me.

If you’re here, maybe you’re someone who hears the world the way I do. Lives to preserve the analog - in crackle, in colour, in the shimmer of something almost lost.

Welcome to the listening room.
The needle remembers everything. If you have a question, leave it in the comments. Xx

#vinylrecord #vinyllove #vinylcollection by @staringintoacloud

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10 months ago

DMA’S self-titled, on red vinyl. A record about memory, identity, and the strange business of becoming someone else while trying to hold onto yourself.

“Keep holding the memory of somebody else, and that someone is you.” - Windows

I wrote about it for waxxlyrical, track by track, and I’m still thinking about that line. ❤️‍🔥 @dmasmusic

LINK IN BIO :) #dmas #australianmusic #recordcollecting #colouredvinyl taken in Hobart, Tasmania by @staringintoacloud

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4 days ago

Sunday arvo reading from @annettegeneva.jpeg ! ☀️ She gets stuck into the new self-titled album from DMA’S, a record that finds the band coming full circle, embracing their rough edges and rediscovering the magic that made us fall for them in the first place.

Eleven songs, plenty of heart and a reminder that sometimes the best way forward is to remember where you started.

Read Annette’s full track-by-track review at the Waxx Lyrical Media Centre. Link in bio. 🎸

#dmas
#waxxalbumreview
#australiamusic
#musicdiscovery
@dmasmusic
@sonymusicaustralia
@wonderlickmusic by @staringintoacloud

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7 days ago

Blondshell’s Violins is a beautifully uncomfortable exercise in making a mess of the things we’re supposed to have figured out by now. Sharp edges, ugly truths, hooks that won’t leave you alone. A record that knows sometimes the punchline and the heartbreak are the same thing.

Full review link in bio :)

“Your battle song sounds like spit on a stranger
You don’t make promises that you can’t keep
So you don’t make promises to me…”

#blondshell #vinylcollectionpost #vinyl by @staringintoacloud

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9 days ago

Beauty, violence and really bloody good songs. 🖤

@annettegeneva.jpeg gets inside @blondshell’s Violins, a record about friendship, bodies, spirituality, grief, healing and figuring yourself out without pretending it ties everything up neatly.

Sharper, stranger and more vulnerable, it might just be Blondshell’s best yet.

Read Annette’s full review at the media centre (link in bio). 🎻

#blondshell
#violins
#waxxalbumreview
#albumsstillmatter by @staringintoacloud

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13 days ago

Annette Geneva’s evocative writing has struck again, and this time she might just have outdone herself.

This month’s Written In Reverb steps into Phoebe Bridgers’ Stranger in the Alps and the messy emotional weather around it: Ryan Adams, “Motion Sickness”, complicated fandom, power, sex, grief, memory, and the songs that keep receipts long after the people attached to them have changed.

It’s not just a piece about an album. It’s about the strange little ghosts we leave inside records, and the records that keep following us home.

Read Phoebe Bridgers, Ryan Adams, and the Songs That Keep Emotional Receipts now at Waxx Lyrical.

#PhoebeBridgers #StrangerInTheAlps #RyanAdams #WrittenInReverb by @staringintoacloud

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a month ago

Brian Fallon - Sleepwalkers (2018)

I keep coming back to Sleepwalkers because Brian Fallon understands something I love about records: they can feel like places.

This one is like driving through a sleepy American town. Streetlights, empty bars, neon bleeding onto wet pavement, the radio turned up because you’re not quite ready to get home yet. Brian’s second solo record arrived after The Gaslight Anthem hiatus, and while the fingerprints of that band are obviously still there, it’s his voice after all, Sleepwalkers is more curious than simply another heartland-rock record. He pulls in Motown, soul, R&B, British rock and a little New Jersey barroom magic.

“If Your Prayers Don’t Get To Heaven” kicks the door open with that glorious Motown bounce, while “Forget Me Not” has the shimmer of a jukebox that has been played too many times and somehow still sounds perfect. I’d definitely play that one to death.

And then there’s “Etta James”, which slows everything down and lets Fallon sit inside the ache. His voice has always sounded lived-in to me. Gravelly, romantic, slightly weather-beaten. Like the guy telling you the story has actually been there when that story happened.

What I especially love is the way the record moves through the night. Fallon has said the sequencing was deliberately constructed as a journey, with “If Your Prayers…” and “See You On The Other Side” bookending the album and the middle drifting through a series of songs.

“Her Majesty’s Service” and “Watson” take that journey across the Atlantic, bringing in The Kinks, The Clash, The Jam and the strange romance of London. It’s funny hearing such unmistakably New Jersey vocals singing about Angel station, the Thames and British pop culture, but it works. And honestly, I think that’s the charm of Brian Fallon.

> more in comments > by @staringintoacloud

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2 months ago

Suki Waterhouse - Loveland (2026)
Pink vinyl, JB Hi-Fi

There is something ridiculously sexy about Loveland, but not in the polished, untouchable pop-star way. It’s sexy because it feels real.

Suki Waterhouse has made an album about love, lust, longing, independence, insecurity and that strange little place where you can be completely obsessed with someone while still knowing exactly who the fuck you are. And honestly, I love that for all of us, listeners.

She’s so confident here, it’s infectious, but it never feels like she is trying too hard. This album is vulnerable, playful and completely comfortable with female desire. Suki gets to be romantic, horny, heartbroken, hopeful and independent all at once. There’s no neat little box to put her in.

And then there’s the physical record, which is ridiculously cute. The pink vinyl is gorgeous, but the sleeve itself doubles as a dice game, so you can literally roll the dice and let fate decide what happens next. Because apparently listening to an album about love wasn’t chaotic enough.

It makes Loveland feel like more than just a record. It’s a little world you get to step into. And I bloody love it. Perfect listen before heading out to a show or party. Hair done. Lipstick on. Pink vinyl spinning. Dice rolled. Consequences pending.

#SukiWaterhouse #Loveland #Vinyl #VinylReview #PinkVinyl by @staringintoacloud

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2 months ago

DICE - I Thought The Altitude Would Make It Worth The View (2026) *97 out of 200 copies.

DICE have traded some of the scrappy, garage-rock energy that introduced them for something bigger without losing the thing that made them worth paying attention to in the first place: hooks that linger long after you’ve flipped the record. Working with 11 time Grammy-winning producer Joe Chiccarelli and collaborating with G Flip on “Loose Change”, they’ve stretched their sound without sanding off the edges.

This limited Impressed Recordings pressing of just 200 copies is gorgeous. The clear vinyl splattered with deep and neon greens looks like rain hitting fresh grass, perfectly mirroring the album artwork. It’s one of those records where the packaging actually extends the story instead of just housing it.

“Loose Change” is still the obvious gateway drug. It has that effortless, windows-down chorus that makes taking risks sound less terrifying. Then there’s “Call Me For A Good Time”, which burrows into your brain after one listen. “So call me for a good time, alright, alright” has been living rent-free in my head for days. It has the kind of chorus that convinces you summer isn’t over yet, even if the weather disagrees.

The back half is where the album quietly wins me over. “Echo”, “Rooftops”, “Stars” and “Daydream” slow the pulse without losing the vibes, giving the record room to breathe before “Bullet Train” closes things out with one last burst of energy.

The title suggests reaching higher only to wonder if the view was worth it. Ironically, DICE answer their own question. It was. Bigger production. Sharper songwriting. More confidence. The altitude didn’t dilute who they are. It just let them see a little further.

#staringintoacloudvinyl #dice by @staringintoacloud

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2 months ago

Tom Waits - Bad as Me (2011)

Tom Waits seems to age like an abandoned carnival ride. Rustier. Stranger. Somehow more alive each year and somehow keeping everyone curious about what the hell he is doing these days.

Bad as Me was his first studio album in seven years when it landed in 2011, and more than a decade later it is kind of the sound of every version of Tom Waits colliding at once. The beat poet. The bar/pub philosopher. The junkyard orchestra conductor. The hopeless romantic. The guy yelling at ghosts in an alley behind a closed-down diner. It never feels like a greatest hits package, even though it borrows colours from almost every era of his career. It’s a reminder that nobody else sounds even remotely like him.

This reissue is worth grabbing for the presentation alone. The pressing sounds rich and gritty without sanding off the album’s beautiful imperfections, and the included lyric booklet feels essential.

The title track “Bad as Me,” is one of Waits’ great late-career statements. On paper it’s a swaggering blues stomp, but underneath it’s about finding someone who understands your flaws without trying to polish them away. It’s like : “we’re equally damaged, so let’s dance anyway.” There’s humour, tenderness and self-awareness wrapped inside that glorious clatter of horns, piano and Marc Ribot’s guitar. Written together with his wife Kathleen Brennan(who also produced the album) makes this glorious nonsense so much more special.

“Hell Broke Luce” hits like being dragged through a battlefield by your bootlaces. It’s one of the most furious anti-war songs Waits has ever written. Military chants, gunfire, distorted bass, pounding percussion and a voice that sounds permanently coated in gravel. It’s angry, exhausting and deliberately uncomfortable. But damn, it’s catchy as HELL!

The quieter moments are “Back in the Crowd” and “Last Leaf” featuring Keith Richards, quietly became an anthem for surviving long after everyone expected you to fall. “New Year’s Eve” closes the record with surprising warmth, reminding you that beneath all the growling and theatrical characters, Waits has always been one of music’s great romantics. #tomwaits by @staringintoacloud

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2 months ago

Gracie Abrams - Daughter From Hell (2026)

I wasn’t expecting Daughter From Hell to be this heavy. Not heavy in the “everything is sad” sense. Heavy in the way that growing up is. The way you start unpacking your relationship with your parents, with yourself, with the people you’ve loved, and realise none of those stories are as simple as you thought they were.

Gracie has always made music that feels like reading someone’s secrets, but this album feels different. The pages are still handwritten, but she’s zoomed out. She’s less documenting every tiny detail and more asking the bigger questions. It’s still deeply personal, but it’s more reflective than confessional.

Aaron Dessner is once again the perfect creative partner. His production gives these songs room to breathe, stretching them into something cinematic without ever overwhelming Gracie’s voice. Dan Nigro pops up to inject some nervous energy into tracks like Look at My Life, while Justin Vernon and Marcus Mumford make subtle, but welcome appearances across the record. Audrey Hobert collab on Minibar is worth a mention.

One of my favourite moments is Imaginary Friend, partly because of the story behind it. The song was co-written with Paul Mescal, making it their first officially credited songwriting collaboration. It would’ve been easy for that fact to overshadow the music, but instead it feels completely natural. Gracie has since said that being in a healthy relationship has actually made her songwriting richer because it’s allowed her to reflect on her past, her family and herself with more clarity, rather than taking away the emotional fuel people assumed she needed to write.

Lyrically, she’s still one of the sharpest writers in pop. “Do I look high-functionin’ or is my façade crumblin’?” is one of those lines that lands because it feels painfully familiar. It’s funny until you realise you’ve asked yourself the exact same question.

The translucent red vinyl couldn’t suit this album better. It looks like a warning sign. Like a broken heart held up to the light. It turns an already intimate record into something that feels even more tangible, especially spread across two LPs.

#gracieabrams by @staringintoacloud

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2 months ago

Silversun Pickups - Widow’s Weeds (2019)

Widow’s Weeds has always felt like the record that quietly waits for you to catch up to it. In my case it cannot be any more true. I’m still catching up to it as a relatively new fan.

It doesn’t swing for the fences. It just settles into your bones. The first few listens reveal the obvious moments, but the more time you spend with it, the more it unfolds. “Freakazoid”, “Don’t Know Yet” and “Songbirds” have become permanent residents in my @sspu playlist, but nothing prepared me for hearing “It Doesn’t Matter Why” for the first time ever live on Saturday night. I completely lost my shit. One of those songs you never really expect to hear until suddenly Brian is standing there, guitar slung low, making it sound even bigger than the record.

Brian Aubert has that rare kind of charisma that never feels fake, like ever. Whether he’s asking you about your first ever show or discussing his songwriting process. At shows - he barely has to move and somehow commands the entire room. Every note is like it’s being released in real time, but somehow you also become part of the process. Oh man, incredible.

And Nikki Monninger? A legend. Seeing their show on her birthday somehow made the night even more special. She has this calm gravitational pull that anchors everything, and the joy on stage was impossible to miss. Happy birthday to one of indie rock’s absolute greats.

This copy is one I’ll never let go of. Signed by the band, tucked away with a completely random setlist from 2024 that i got at a meet and greet found its way inside. Tiny artefacts that become part of the whole story.

I go to far too many gigs, so when one genuinely catches me off guard, I know it’s something special. Saturday was one of those nights I’ll be replaying in my head for a long time. taken in Hobart, Tasmania by @staringintoacloud

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3 months ago