There’s something truly moving about hearing someone realise, in real time, that affection means very little if it’s never actually expressed. And on her new single ‘How Can I Tell You?’, Clare Perrott turns that hesitation into the heart of the song. The Boorloo-based singer-songwriter captures the awkward space between feeling something deeply and finding the nerve to say it, wrapping that emotional uncertainty in warm indie-folk that feels intimate without ever becoming overly delicate.
The arrangement has an easy, lived-in charm. Twangy guitar and expressive slide lines give the track a soft Americana edge, while her airy vocal turns and layered harmonies keep everything light on its feet. As the song develops, those details begin to gather around her voice, creating a sense of momentum that mirrors the gradual release of everything being held back.
But what makes the track especially appealing is its lack of grandstanding. Here, she’s writing about friendship, gratitude, overthinking and the strange difficulty of telling people they matter while life is actually happening.
There’s also a coming-of-age quality to the writing. ‘How Can I Tell You?’ understands that growing up often means recognising how easily we take people for granted, how often we assume they already know what we feel, and how much courage can be hidden inside something as simple as saying it plainly.
Tender, open-hearted and full of small melodic details, ‘How Can I Tell You?’ turns everyday vulnerability into something genuinely affecting.