E^ST on her breakout single and the album she never wants you to hear

E^ST says discovering electro-pop was like an "epiphany moment". Photo / supplied

"Momentary, temporary, transient, impermanent, fugitive, short-lived, fleeting," sings E^ST on the opening lines of her breakthrough single, Life Goes On. With each adjective, E^ST – aka Mel Bester – reaches for some sort of explanation of a relationship that's come and gone, made all the more painful by the clarity of hindsight. Later, she gives up trying to define it, and looks forward. "The moment ends, and life goes on".

"I'm not very good at talking about my emotions," says Bester. "I use songwriting to deal with the more complex feelings I have about things."

Such reflective insight shows wisdom beyond Bester's 19 years – but then again, making music isn't new to her. Born in South Africa and raised in Australia, the New South Wales-based artist says she's been singing ever since she could talk. She released her first EP, Old Age, in 2014 at the age of 16 – and that wasn't even her first time releasing music. "When I was 10, I did this really Disney, sickeningly sweet pop album." she says. "Don't go out of your way to look for it. It's best left in the past."

Songs from Old Age made their way on to Triple J's Unearthed station, which eventually caught the attention of Warner Music. Two more EPs followed – 2015's The Alley and 2016's Get Money – before Bester released Life Goes On this year, an electro-pop track that takes melancholic themes and throws them over a cathartic dance beat.

Bester says she's grown up writing "super folky" songs on her guitar, and it wasn't until she was working on Old Age with Australian producer John Castle (Vance Joy, Cub Sport) that she began to entertain the idea of making electro-pop.

"We tried going along that folky route with the production, and we were both like, 'Man, this is so daggy, this is really boring'. And he was like, 'Look, call me crazy, but I'm going to throw a synth in there'," she says.

"It turned into this electro-pop song, and I was like, 'Whoa, that's what I want to do'. I sort of had this epiphany moment."

Bester has a number of exciting projects on the horizon, including co-writes and collaborations with our very own Sachi and Thomston. She says she'd one day like to work towards an album, but for now, she's taking things step by step.

"I'm not super driven by the idea of success and fame. It's never really been a huge part of my way of thinking," she says. "But I'd love to continue growing, and continue to get to go on adventures and experience new things."

LOWDOWN:
Who: E^ST
What: Playing Thomston and Friends
Where: Galatos
When: December 19