Toby Martin, one of Sydney’s songwriting treasures, is launching his new album, I Felt The Valley Lifting, with shows in Victoria this December.

Perhaps best known for his role as the lead singer of much-loved indie rock band Youth Group, with whom he has released five studio albums, toured the world, won an ARIA, and had a Number One single in 2006 with ‘Forever Young’, Martin will be hitting the road in support of his third solo record.

Released in September through legendary Sydney label Ivy League, I Felt The Valley Lifting was written while living in the small northern English village of Slaithwaite and is a collaboration with local folk, rock and Persian musicians from that region. The record effortlessly melds Martin’s newfound love of British Isles folk music with the noisy, raucous indie-rock that obsessed him in his youth, creating a stirring musical backdrop for detailed tales about life in a post-Industrial, pre-Brexit town. Stories that are strange, gothic, hilarious and sometimes unsettling.

These shows will be Toby’s first chance to play these songs live since the album was released and he’ll also revisit favourites from his vast back catalogue of Youth Group tunes and solo material as well.

The incredible Georgia Mooney will be opening the show. As one quarter of indie-folk band, All Our Exes Live in Texas, Georgia has toured all over the world, received rapturous critical acclaim and picked up a slew of musical trophies. As all four quarters of her new solo project, Georgia has a bunch of brand new songs, a dulcimer she won in a raffle, and a good attitude.