Molly Priest

Molly is a writer and artist, and lead singer for Alter Boy, a dark pop band from Perth. Risking flash fame as a queer/trans/hard-of-hearing novelty act early in their career, Alter Boy have now found their way into the hearts of a wider audience through the stand-alone strength of their music. An underlying drive for Molly’s music making has been to recapture the feeling of collective effervescence experienced in worship music and hymns. She finds herself repeatedly trying to transmute that feeling into glittering pop music that makes you want to weep uncontrollably on the dance floor. Through the trojan horse of a highly accessible brand of electro pop, Molly has sought to expand definitions of what music is and where it belongs. This has included releasing Auslan-only songs, inscribing music into the background of band promotional stills, including written instructions for a song as an album track, performing as a pop band in fine art galleries, and even playing silence on the radio. Molly’s extensive background in existential psychology deeply informs her work.