Dustin Tebbutt

Australian singer/songwriter Dustin Tebbutt emerged in 2013 with “The Breach,” a lushly layered indie folk track in the mold of Bon Iver and Great Lake Swimmers. After several years working outside of Sweden, the Sydney native returned home where he claimed national chart success first with the 2015 mini-album Home and then with his full-length debut, First Light. At the beginning of his career, Tebbutt left his homeland in search of inspiration from the harsh and changeable seasons of Scandinavia, where he first began work on his music. Subsequently settling in Sweden, he combined lush, sweeping harmonies with sparse, layered instrumentation; he used the foreign landscapes that surrounded him to construct the backdrop of his dramatic and melancholic music. His languid, emotive songs nod to influences such as J. Tillman, while the rich texture of Laura Veirs, Great Lake Swimmers, and Max Richter are also audible in the composition of his 2013 debut EP The Breach. The following year, Tebbutt released a second EP, Bones, before making a triumphant return to Australia, where he sold out multiple shows in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. A 2015 collaboration with Brisbane’s the Kite String Tangle was followed quickly by the seven-track mini-album Home. Led by the sweeping, optimistic single of the same name, Tebbutt released his debut full-length album, First Light, in 2016; it reached number 13 on Australia’s ARIA albums chart. Maintaining his widespread success, he remained a public presence in 2017, contributing the track “Atlas in Your Eye” to the film Jasper Jones, and returning in 2018 with the lush indie folk of “Love Is Blind.” ~ Scott Kerr