Filipino and Murrawarri composer, rapper, producer and drummer DOBBY is set to release his second album, MARSHMALLOW, on Friday 31 July.
The concept rap album follows his ARIA Award-winning debut 'WARRANGU; River Story', which built a sonic archive around Indigenous land knowledge, environmental justice and the river systems affecting Brewarrina and surrounding communities.
The new album shifts from a community-based story to a personal one.
DOBBY described MARSHMALLOW as a different project to WARRANGU; River Story.
"After WARRANGU; River Story, I had always plans to drop this next one called MARSHMALLOW," he told National Indigenous Times.
"WARRANGU was a community-based album, based on the impacts of the river that affected community, Brewarrina and surrounding areas.
"But this one here is an inward journey into my inner child."
The album is built around a time-travel story that takes DOBBY back to 2009, when he was a younger artist with an unreleased project called 'The Royal Flame'.
In the story, he returns to meet that younger version of himself, takes the unreleased album from him and brings it into the present.
The process forced him to look at the distance between childhood and adulthood, and the things that can shape a young person's sense of self.
The album became a way to examine childhood, self-doubt and repair.
DOBBY said the younger version of himself was still close to music and childhood wonder.
"This young kid that I go back in time to 2009 to confront, he was very different," DOBBY said.
"He didn't have to worry about taxes or parking fines or rent.
"All he cared about was hip hop music, Missy Elliott, listening to Eminem and Black Eyed Peas."
MARSHMALLOW draws its title from the Stanford University marshmallow experiment, which studied delayed gratification and willpower in children.
The idea of waiting for a higher reward became a way to understand regret, discipline and the long process of releasing work he had once left behind.
The album also looks at mental health, boundaries, self-sabotage, racism and the effort of staying connected to passion while carrying the pressures of the world.
DOBBY said the theme connected the personal story to a wider human experience.
"Willpower is everywhere," he said.
"It's universal, it's a human struggle. And I guess this struggle, for me, is fixing my regret going back in time to save that album that I never released and bringing it back to the present so I can release it now."
The record also moves through wider social and political pressures, with DOBBY imagining what it means to tell his younger self about the world after 2009.
Although MARSHMALLOW is not framed in the same way as 'WARRANGU; River Story', his connection to Country remains part of the record.
Musically, MARSHMALLOW leans into jazz, funk and hip hop, with live drumming and samples drawn from DOBBY's own past.
DOBBY said the album includes voices and sounds from different parts of his life.
"I drum on about three or four of the tracks myself," he said.
"My jazz teachers from 2009 are sampled in it. I even sampled my younger self in a lot of the tracks as well, so you'll hear a 12-year-old me rapping along."
The album also features drummer Tully Ryan, Mindy Kwanten, Zeppelin Hamilton, Becca Hatch and Josh Pyke.
DOBBY wants listeners to connect with the record through their own memories, dreams and younger selves.
MARSHMALLOW was made for people to sit with as he hopes it will resonate with listeners.
"We all struggle and we all have dreams," DOBBY said.
"This is definitely a dream album.
"It's an ambitious album, and I really think there's something for everyone in this album."
MARSHMALLOW will be released on Friday 31 July, with videos and live shows planned as part of the rollout.
A release-eve listening party will be held at Nauti Studios in Forest Lodge, NSW, from 6pm to 9pm AEST on Thursday 30 July.
Tickets are $15, or free for people who pre-purchase the album.
The event will give listeners the first chance to hear MARSHMALLOW in full before its official release.
