AusScene: Kimbra

Somebody That I Used to Know. It’s the global hit – complete with number one spot in the Triple J Hottest 100 and a cover featured on Glee – that shot Gotye to international recognition, making for the ultimate grassroots-indie-dude-hitting-it-huge story, et cetera, et cetera.

But how much do you know about the velveteen vocals that coat the second verse; the gorgeous lady who stood starkers next to Wally whilst paint crept over her body; the second dimension that alleviates the song to its pivotal levels of tension?

Kimbra

Kimbra

That would be Kimbra, and damn, that girl is a talent.

Kimbra Lee Johnson’s image and sound is a mixture of sweet yet smouldering, cute yet fierce, mature yet youthful. On her debut album, Vows, the twenty-one year old took elements of the unconventional and the classic, moulding the two together into her own brand of versatile quirk.