The Clown. A collection of songs written mostly during the extensive Melbourne lockdowns, recorded lovingly, frustratedly and passionately by my almost husband Gideon Preiss, and tortured over  by yours truly still on a life-long search for perfection, like almost every creative I know. At some point I realised ,whilst every day should probably be treated like the last, every work should be treated like the first. We are too ever-changing to put ceilings over possibility, and what a beautiful thing that is. I think maybe, that is why art is God. 

My small body of work tells 8 stories of broken dreams with a wink from the clouds and the stars that there is hope yet. The album is about  burying my gold in the dirt for preference of being poor than hurt.

The Clown

This is Melbourne-based artist, Anita Lester's first solo EP ‘Erato’.

It is withdrawn, tender, lyrical and considered. 

She has been described as ‘Nick Cave and Mary Magdalene’s love child’, weaving sex, death, god complexities and slavery into all she presents. 

Erato is a six track EP, including a cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘You Want it Darker’- her live version being praised by the master himself just weeks before his death and acting as the seed for Anita’s sold out touring project ‘Ladies Who Sing Leonard’. 

Since her re-launch in late 2019, Anita has already played in multiple festivals, opened for Dan Sultan, Don Walker and Katie Noonan, just to name a few, as well as selling out all her solo shows around the East Coast.

Erato is being released alongside a book of poems and songs 

This is in place of traditional music merchandise, as Anita is releasing all music for free. 

Recorded between a tiny house on the South Coast of NSW and in a bedroom in Sydney, producers Lawrence Greenwood and Benjamin Riley managed to allow the stories to rise above the production. 

Cover art was painted by 2018 Archibald winner Yvette Coppersmith.

Erato

Lester The Fierce
HOWL

www.lesterthefierce.com
www.facebook.com/lesterthefierce
www.twitter.com/lesterthefierce
www.soundcloud.com/lesterthefierce
@crybabylester

LYRICS

Howl said my mother
waving from great heights
swallowing her heart 
With tears in her eyes
Howl said my lover
don't give it all to me--
You should still be wanting
you should still be free
Here it goes, here we go again.
Oh Goodbye, you're always gone. 
You want me distant, want me calm.
You want me quiet- I don't know how-
My spirit sings, so here I howl
Howl go the bells,
On the sacred hills,
In harmony they sing,
Endless golden thrills.
Howl says the liar,
With water in his eyes.
I don't care for you-
Leave me in this life.
Here it goes, here we go again.
Oh Goodbye, you're always gone. 
You want me distant, want me calm.
You want me quiet- I don't know how-
My spirit sings, so here I howl

© True Music/ Lester The Fierce, 2013

LESTER THE FIERCE Performing HOWL.
Written by Anita Lester
Produced by Jonathan Dreyfus.

truemusic.com.au

Lester The Fierce- HOWL

Lester The Fierce- Volcano

Sun and Moon and Stars was written in the middle of 2020, in the silent streets of St Kilda, Melbourne, just after all the trees had lost their leaves. The rain fell hard and people could only talk with their eyes. It was the beginning of the strangest time many of us had seen. For many of us, the world shutting down shed light on what was important and sometimes difficult decisions had to be made.
This is a song about that. 

Recorded to tape, produced by Australian troubadour legends Husky (Husky Gawenda, Gideon Preiss and Jules Pascoe), the feeling of the aforementioned is captured perfectly. 

The music video was similarly conceived, shot in Anita’s lounge room by Anita herself- simple and evocative.

Earthly Desire

I had a dream I couldn’t see-
I was clawing at the trees.
I called for help but couldn’t speak,
When the angels sung to me.

“Look at you changing-
Look at your colours-
Proud but sorry.
Born to be great but
Flawed at the gates-
Broken by temptation.”

Oh-
It it there…
Can you feel it?
You can’t see it?
It is here,
Though it’s rare.
You can’t touch it,
Though you hold it.

When I woke I had a thirst
That could not be quenched.
And I was taunted by soaring birds
Who sung to me-

“Look at us flying-
Look at you grounded-
Proud but sorry.
Born to be great but
Flawed at the gates-
broken by temptation”

Oh-
It it there…
Can you feel it?
You can’t see it?
It is here,
Though it’s rare.
You can’t touch it,
Though you hold it.
It is breath,
Though not air-
It is changing;
Always changing.
It is god,
It is death,
It is life,
It is breath.

Breath

I’ve been called a bird a sheep,
Called a lion,
Called too weak,
Been called so many names
Nearly forgot that I could dance.
Took one too many notes this life,
I got twisted round some knife,
Meant to cut the mighty down,
with some elusive crown.

Oh here it comes again;
Righteous rain ,
Restore my heart!
I’ve been a wild woman…
I need the open sky on me,
The frenzied clouds,
The careless breeze,
The storm is best upon my knees…
I feel god, I feel at ease.

Flirting from a homemade throne,
I was stupid, was alone
With my mind in Hollywood;
My lust on nothing good.
Forgot the touch of my own skin,
Of the place that I was in,
Of the love I stopped giving,
I kept on leaving.

Oh here it comes again;
Righteous rain ,
Restore my heart!
I’ve been a wild woman…
I need the open sky on me,
The frenzied clouds,
The careless breeze,
The storm is best upon my knees…
I feel god, I feel at ease.

Let the rain fall down….

Righteous Rain

This was to be my last plea,
That final cry across the sea,
That final call across the sand,
Of this stolen burning broken land.

When you know…you just know.

Honour bound and still obliged
To all my ghosts from my past life.
Sewn to the skin of all I’ve touched,
I love hard that’s just how I love.

When you know…you just know.

The crooked night arouses me,
Tormenting me out of my dreams.
Shadows cast a frighting show,
A spirit I don’t want to know.

When you know…you just know.

A beggar called me by my name
Across the street she called my name
But when I looked her in the eye
I looked myself straight in the eye.

When you know…you just know.

A desperate songbird still am I.
A lonely painter by and by.
I bury my gold in the dirt,
I am better off poor then hurt.

When you know…you just know.

Songbird

I’m in love with sweethearts in my head,
Same old stories written with new words.
A half opened bottle of cheap red
Is company along with singing birds…
Can push the sky
Can change the tide.
Now where’s this love who’ll come
And come and change my mind?

Was a prisoner to all my myths;
Tethered to revenants never known.
Finding joy inside a new abyss
That looks a lot like my own messy home,
Just like a cave without a light,
Where I sleep drunk,
And it’s alright.

I heard a song
Before I stirred
It was your voice
That song I heard

I hadn’t penned
Those knowing words
I was the lamb
And you the bird.

Sweethearts

Where am going
Following these feet?
I got so lost I lost my way,
In the street I live and lay.

Forever running
From door to train to sky.
Never quite knowing
How to be,
Who am I.

Sewing feathers to my back
So i’d never touch the ground.
But I know better than before
That the only way up is down.

I played the part
of the Beautiful stranger.
Lying only to myself;
It’s dangerous being someone else.

Scared when unscripted,
I juggle loaded guns.
Smiling yet knowing
I’m fearful of the fun.

Draw the curtain, no applause,
I am just a clown.
But I know more than before;
That the only way up is down.

It’s 2am,
The bar is empty,
I’m bent over the jukebox
Playing songs that remind me
Of when we first met-
I don’t even drink,
But the smell of that beer
Reminds me of your skin.

Flawed;
So flawed were you and I.
Whilst you drank away your feelings
I always looked for reasons
To try and save you from yourself…
And all the while
You were saving someone else

Oh, I waited so long
For you to let me in…
Just to let me down.

Blindfolded I loved,
With nowhere to go-
Pink neon red cheeks,
As you moved with her slow.
Silent and still,
As the room danced around me-
I was stuck to the carpet
And every memory.

But today,
It seems I’ve woken up.
I poured out your wine,
You can no longer fill my cup.
I looked
Myself straight in the eye.
And in the bathroom of that bar.
Ill love myself for the first time.

Oh I waited so long
For you to let me in
Just to let me down-
And spit me out;
That spit you shared with her,
When I was sleeping in our bed…
And oh, I waited oh so long,
For you to let me in,
Just to let me down.

Jukebox

In my sparkling fantasies-
In my wildest childhood dreams-
I stood before a wide eyed crowd,
Who’s voices call my name out loud.

But now I’m standing before my mistakes,
Wondering if I’ll ever be a saint.
Or at least afoot of someone great-
Now do I settle for a prophets date?

I felt the angels were laughing at me.
Kept losing blood from the heart on my sleeve.
My addled heart trying to find it’s own beat-
My heart wrapped in thorns that cut deep-
My sacred heart with only gold left to bleed.

I was taught if to exist
I must be known or won’t be missed,
And if I cannot be enough
My worth is bound to who I love.

But this morning I woke up professed-
I pushed that rock away atop my chest.
I burnt the pictures on my alters stand-
I took my life into my shaking hands!

I was lost in what the hunting meant-
Tracking glory led me to regret
And my passion play will never be burnt,
Though the harder you love the harder you hurt.

Sacred Heart

Lester The Fierce- The Trinity

Lester The Fierce- Devil In A Dress

Lester The Fierce - The Hunter

MAN 
Anita Lester

Music by Anita Lester
Produced by Anita Lester/ Jacob Welsh/ Danny Allin
Engineered by Danny Allin
Mastered by Joe La Porta

© Anita Lester, 2017

LAST DAY
Anita Lester

Music by Anita Lester
Produced by Anita Lester/ Jacob Welsh/ Danny Allin
Engineered by Danny Allin
Mastered by Joe La Porta

© Anita Lester, 2017

Last Day

Colours is the second single from Lester The Fierce.

Music
Written and arranged by Anita Lester
Production
Colin Leadbetter @ Leadbetter Studios
Master
Colin Leadbetter

www.facebook.com/lesterthefierce
http://www.youtube.com/user/lesterthefierce
http://vimeo.com/lesterthefierce
http://twitter.com/lesterthefierce
http://soundcloud.com/lesterthefierce

Lester The Fierce- COLOURS

Amen

****

This is Melbourne-based artist, Anita Lester's first solo EP ‘Erato’.

It is withdrawn, tender, lyrical and considered. 

She has been described as ‘Nick Cave and Mary Magdalene’s love child’, weaving sex, death, god complexities and slavery into all she presents. 

Erato is a six track EP, including a cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘You Want it Darker’- her live version being praised by the master himself just weeks before his death and acting as the seed for Anita’s sold out touring project ‘Ladies Who Sing Leonard’. 

Since her re-launch in late 2019, Anita has already played in multiple festivals, opened for Dan Sultan, Don Walker and Katie Noonan, just to name a few, as well as selling out all her solo shows around the East Coast.

Erato is being released alongside a book of poems and songs 

This is in place of traditional music merchandise, as Anita is releasing all music for free. 

Recorded between a tiny house on the South Coast of NSW and in a bedroom in Sydney, producers Lawrence Greenwood and Benjamin Riley managed to allow the stories to rise above the production. 

Cover art was painted by 2018 Archibald winner Yvette Coppersmith.

Amen

You Want it Darker
By Leonard Cohen

*****

This is Melbourne-based artist, Anita Lester's first solo EP ‘Erato’.

It is withdrawn, tender, lyrical and considered. 

She has been described as ‘Nick Cave and Mary Magdalene’s love child’, weaving sex, death, god complexities and slavery into all she presents. 

Erato is a six track EP, including a cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘You Want it Darker’- her live version being praised by the master himself just weeks before his death and acting as the seed for Anita’s sold out touring project ‘Ladies Who Sing Leonard’. 

Since her re-launch in late 2019, Anita has already played in multiple festivals, opened for Dan Sultan, Don Walker and Katie Noonan, just to name a few, as well as selling out all her solo shows around the East Coast.

Erato is being released alongside a book of poems and songs 

This is in place of traditional music merchandise, as Anita is releasing all music for free. 

Recorded between a tiny house on the South Coast of NSW and in a bedroom in Sydney, producers Lawrence Greenwood and Benjamin Riley managed to allow the stories to rise above the production. 

Cover art was painted by 2018 Archibald winner Yvette Coppersmith.

You Want It Darker

Again

****

This is Melbourne-based artist, Anita Lester's first solo EP ‘Erato’.

It is withdrawn, tender, lyrical and considered. 

She has been described as ‘Nick Cave and Mary Magdalene’s love child’, weaving sex, death, god complexities and slavery into all she presents. 

Erato is a six track EP, including a cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘You Want it Darker’- her live version being praised by the master himself just weeks before his death and acting as the seed for Anita’s sold out touring project ‘Ladies Who Sing Leonard’. 

Since her re-launch in late 2019, Anita has already played in multiple festivals, opened for Dan Sultan, Don Walker and Katie Noonan, just to name a few, as well as selling out all her solo shows around the East Coast.

Erato is being released alongside a book of poems and songs 

This is in place of traditional music merchandise, as Anita is releasing all music for free. 

Recorded between a tiny house on the South Coast of NSW and in a bedroom in Sydney, producers Lawrence Greenwood and Benjamin Riley managed to allow the stories to rise above the production. 

Cover art was painted by 2018 Archibald winner Yvette Coppersmith.

Again

Blue

****

This is Melbourne-based artist, Anita Lester's first solo EP ‘Erato’.

It is withdrawn, tender, lyrical and considered. 

She has been described as ‘Nick Cave and Mary Magdalene’s love child’, weaving sex, death, god complexities and slavery into all she presents. 

Erato is a six track EP, including a cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘You Want it Darker’- her live version being praised by the master himself just weeks before his death and acting as the seed for Anita’s sold out touring project ‘Ladies Who Sing Leonard’. 

Since her re-launch in late 2019, Anita has already played in multiple festivals, opened for Dan Sultan, Don Walker and Katie Noonan, just to name a few, as well as selling out all her solo shows around the East Coast.

Erato is being released alongside a book of poems and songs 

This is in place of traditional music merchandise, as Anita is releasing all music for free. 

Recorded between a tiny house on the South Coast of NSW and in a bedroom in Sydney, producers Lawrence Greenwood and Benjamin Riley managed to allow the stories to rise above the production. 

Cover art was painted by 2018 Archibald winner Yvette Coppersmith.

Blue

Wrong Time

*****

This is Melbourne-based artist, Anita Lester's first solo EP ‘Erato’.

It is withdrawn, tender, lyrical and considered. 

She has been described as ‘Nick Cave and Mary Magdalene’s love child’, weaving sex, death, god complexities and slavery into all she presents. 

Erato is a six track EP, including a cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘You Want it Darker’- her live version being praised by the master himself just weeks before his death and acting as the seed for Anita’s sold out touring project ‘Ladies Who Sing Leonard’. 

Since her re-launch in late 2019, Anita has already played in multiple festivals, opened for Dan Sultan, Don Walker and Katie Noonan, just to name a few, as well as selling out all her solo shows around the East Coast.

Erato is being released alongside a book of poems and songs 

This is in place of traditional music merchandise, as Anita is releasing all music for free. 

Recorded between a tiny house on the South Coast of NSW and in a bedroom in Sydney, producers Lawrence Greenwood and Benjamin Riley managed to allow the stories to rise above the production. 

Cover art was painted by 2018 Archibald winner Yvette Coppersmith.

Wrong Time

Anita Lester is a Melbourne based multi-disciplinary artist.

Having spent years touring the world with rock outfit ‘Lester The Fierce’, in March 2020, Anita released her debut solo EP ‘Erato’. Whilst the timing of the release was ominous, tracks from the work eventually resonated- notably ‘Wrong Time’ and Anita’s cover of ‘You Want it Darker’ by Leonard Cohen - being picked up by film and television including ‘The Walking Dead’, epiloguing her viral live video of the same song- praised by Leonard himself prior to his death.

In June 2021, Anita released her single ‘Sun and moon and stars’, produced by legendary Australian troubadours, Husky.

Over the last decade and a half, Anita has quietly and gracefully established herself as a force in not only music, but visual art, literature and film.

Her last short film ‘Noch Am Leben (I’m Still Alive)’ was shown in over 50 festivals globally, including multiple Oscar contenders. Additionally it is the winner of 23 award laurels.

Her paintings are irreverent, technical and striking, all with a nod to mythological stories- which is shown in her upcoming book ‘The Seven Palaces of Breath: The Mysteries of the Flying Hobbler‘.

Anita is also an accomplished poet and storyteller with her work appearing in over a dozen books. Her musical release ’Erato’ is also accompanied by a book of poetry, including the widely publicised  ‘Ode to Oz’. 

Though there are many facets to Anita Lester’s art practice, it is all grounded in a unique storytelling style that has a red thread woven throughout with links to death, sex, love, longing, slavery and spirituality.

Anita Lester

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