Spunk Records is pleased to announce the release of Holly Throsby’s second album, Under the Town.

Like her first collection of songs, On Night, Holly made Under the Town with producer Tony Dupe at his house on Saddleback Mountain on the NSW South Coast over the summer. (It was mixed by Tim Whitten in Sydney.)

But other things are different. The songs still come from a thoughtful and quiet place, but on Under the Town they are orchestrated with richer detail and more colours. Holly (guitars) was helped in this by Tony (piano, bouzouki, clarinet, trumpet), Jens Birchall (cello, double bass), labelmate Jack Ladder (bass) and Bree van Reyk (drums). Some young twin sisters from Wollongong played violin, and Holly played piano (in "On Longing") for the first time on a record. (The piano belonged to her grandmother, who was a cellist in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra). And this time Tony and Holly closed the cottage windows so you can't hear the birds and insects outside.

The songs on Under the Town are strong and clear, alive with crisp detail and carefully wrought melodies. Holly is a songwriter who selects her words with a poet's precision; and conjures her imagery with a painterly eye. The words are sparse and well chosen, but build rich little worlds. There's darkness here, and images in sharp focus: dim things in a pond, crows in a bed, a heart like an apple (red round and shot), kids in the dust. But there's also humour and playfulness in the instrumentation and the intricate arrangements: from toy piano ("The Shoulders and Bends") to chopsticks drumming on a window sill ("Making A Fire"), to beautiful string flourishes ("If We Go Easy"). These are songs by an artist in sure command of her delicate craft, an artistic leap forward from her highly praised debut.

In the time since On Night was released in late 2004 ("a sound of its own", said Rolling Stone's four-star review; "a thing of quiet luminescent beauty", said The Courier Mail's same), Holly has toured with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Hayden, New Buffalo and The Eels and has played shows with Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart and Smog.

In January 2006 On Night was released in the UK via Southern Records and lots more people said nice things (Mojo - "a spare, Raymond Carver-like intimacy...an irrefutably original voice", Plan B - "something quite special", Uncut - "poignant lyrical twists with a pinch of dry humour", among them). She toured Europe with Micah P. Hinson in April and was invited to play an instore gig at Rough Trade Records in London which had featured On Night as album of the week earlier in the year.

Holly will perform a small run of dates in June to support the single "Making A Fire", before heading to the US to tour with David Pajo (Papa M, Slint, Tortoise) in July. There will be an album tour in September. In the meanwhile, there's Under the Town.