When Tolstoy wrote, ‘I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love’, he was incidentally articulating the desire of many artists throughout history who lusted equally after encounters of suffering and elation to fuel their creativity.Acey Monaro has observed a similar, passionate manifesto throughout her life. Raised in a country town, she dropped out of school at 14, left home a year later, then married a man twice her age.After divorcing her husband after 7 years at the ripe old age of 26, she began performing solo gigs in Sydney. Her guitar skills were elementary, but her strong voice and crafty lyrics- evoking Patti Smith as much as Hank, but all inspired by her own brimming storybook- soon garnered a regular, dedicated audience and prompted an early reviewer to compare her simultaneously to Feist and Emmylou Harris.Acey fell in love with a boy whilst on holiday in Austin, Texas and after a trying period of long distance love, she recently moved to Austin to marry him and finish recording her debut EP.While her musical conditioning came from her mum and musician father’s early 20th century blues and country records —the mastery of Hound Dog and Patsy were formative —Acey’s songs include sonic nods to indie pop, rock and roll and folk. The result? Great indie rock songs; catchy as hell and fresh as a margarita.The debut EP, released in March 2014, was recorded in Sydney and Austin over six months and is the perfect introduction to Acey’s wide-ranging spectrum of influences.The songs were produced by Andy Bianculli of Austin psych-pop outfit The Preservation and engineered in Austin by Brad Bell (Arcade Fire, Spoon) and in Sydney by Brendan Gallagher (Karma County, Jimmy Little).