Headaches introduces “Sweeter Than This” ahead of new EP

Sydney-based vocalist, songwriter and producer Headaches has unveiled their hazy new single “Sweeter Than This”, offering a first taste of forthcoming EP We’ll Make Our Beds When We Get Home, due 16 October via dottidot.

Moving between woozy shoegaze and sparse synth-pop, “Sweeter Than This” captures the peculiar emotional limbo of being young, restless and stuck in the city. It’s lo-fi and confessional, but never overly earnest — instead finding humour and irony in the routines, expectations and emotional avoidance of modern life.

“This song is about being stuck in a detached, metropolitan loop,” Headaches explains. “It’s about you and your peers going through the motions of what you think it means to be alive. It’s satirical and ironic, mimicking the humorous avoidance we live by.”

The track introduces the world of Melisa Bester’s Headaches project: a slow-burning blend of intimate songwriting, swelling production and intricate electronic textures. Drawing inspiration from artists including Sade and early Tei Shi, Headaches sits somewhere between the dreamier edges of Ydegirl and Chanel Beads, while carving out a distinctly personal space.

https://youtu.be/tQech6esQ0k?si=R9ID_T3xRUHMKzYY

The accompanying video extends that world into a lo-fi visual universe, reflecting the song’s themes of metropolitan detachment and interpersonal awkwardness.

We’ll Make Our Beds When We Get Home promises to push those ideas further, exploring the sticky realities of city life — bad dates, nights out that perhaps went too far, stagnation, loneliness and the restless desire for something new. Rather than romanticising youth, Headaches finds something darkly funny and painfully recognisable in its contradictions.

Bester has been making music since 2014 under the pseudonym E^ST, before developing Headaches as a more DIY-driven project centred on increasingly intricate and enigmatic electronic production. In 2024, they collaborated with Golden Vessel (1tbsp) on Making Friends with the Space Around Me, followed by debut solo EP Looking For Something New, which earned support from triple j, triple j Unearthed, KEXP and FBi Radio.

Now returning to dottidot, the independent label founded by GRAMMY-nominated artist Maxwell Byrne (1tbsp, Golden Vessel), Headaches is preparing to open the next chapter with We’ll Make Our Beds When We Get Home.

“Sweeter Than This” is out now via dottidot.Headaches – We’ll Make Our Beds When We Get HomeEP out 16 October via dottidot.