Melbourne’s Local the Neighbour channels homesickness, ambition, and the sacrifices tucked inside the dream on “Hard,” a tender, feverish indie rock confession from debut EP ‘Sword’ that finds the ache beneath a life in motion.
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Stream: “Hard” – Local the Neighbour
This gift is always wrapped with strings hard attached…
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“I’m crying to myself on another bench stand.”
With a single line, Local the Neighbour’s David Quested cuts straight to the core of what his song “Hard” is really about: The quiet, unglamorous cost of chasing a dream that once felt like everything.
The Melbourne-based artist doesn’t romanticize the road or dress ambition up as triumph – he sits inside the tension between movement and longing, between forward momentum and the pull of home. It’s an achingly expressive, tender, and emotionally charged song about sacrifice in its most human form: Leaving behind the people and places that steady you, only to realize how much you needed them all along.
Left my girl and dog at home and now
I don’t want this dream anymore so
When I’m home standing at my back porch
I won’t complain about
watering the plants no more
Ooooh, you’re only in the band
‘cause no one understands
Ooooh, just sticking to your post
to make it all flow
Released in late January via G.Y.R.O., “Hard” is the second single taken from Local the Neighbour’s debut EP Sword (out now) – a project that finds Quested widening his lens while digging deeper into the emotional terrain that’s come to define his work. Active for over five years now, Local the Neighbour exists as both a personal outlet and a communal effort – a space where Quested can step outside his roots as a drummer and take full control of his songwriting and production, while still inviting close collaborators into the process. Originally from Darwin and later trained in jazz at the Victorian College of the Arts and UCLA, Quested’s path has been anything but linear: A former session player who performed alongside ARIA-winning musicians and toured internationally, he ultimately made what he calls a “jexit,” stepping away from jazz to reconnect with the rock and indie music that first shaped him. Where earlier releases introduced his blend of introspective songwriting and DIY production, “Hard” sharpens that identity into a more expansive and emotionally exposed statement.
Sword gathers six tracks – the 15-second intro “SWORD,” “Hard,” “Preacher,” “Midday Pilates,” “just so you know,” and “Are you okay?” – into a compact but far-reaching portrait of an artist learning how to translate discomfort into connection. If “Hard” channels the ache of touring into its own feverish confession, “Midday Pilates” pushes outward toward inherited privilege and performative compassion, while “Are you okay?” cuts all the way back to the project’s beginning: The first song Quested ever wrote, and the one that gave Local the Neighbour its earliest pulse.
“This is the first song I ever wrote, ever!” Quested says of “Are you okay?” “It’s the song that started it and the song which gave me a taste of what songwriting was. I’ve had this song for a while now and it just never felt right to release it until now. It’s about being afraid to ask the ones you love if they’re okay because you know the answer is no. I realised it’s tough to hear the things you don’t want to know and it’s easier said than done.”
That origin story matters because Sword doesn’t feel like a debut chasing polish for its own sake; it feels like a document of pressure points, breakthroughs, and hard-earned self-recognition. Quested brings a drummer’s physicality, a producer’s precision, and a songwriter’s willingness to sit in the uncomfortable middle of a feeling until it starts to speak. His music is striking because it never treats vulnerability as decoration. It moves with the force of lived experience, finding catharsis not by escaping difficulty, but by letting the song carry its full weight.
A sense of movement – of searching, shifting, and recalibrating – lives inside “Hard.”
Built on dusty guitars, slow-burning textures, and a steady, swelling intensity, the song unfolds like a long exhale, its dreamy surface giving way to something heavier and more unsettled underneath. It’s tender and feverish all at once, soft in its delivery but smoldering with emotional weight and underlying friction, gradually rising toward a breaking point that mirrors the internal unraveling at its center.
Twice on the plane, and twice in the van
I’m crying to myself on another bench stand
Phone is slipping out of my hands,
she says she understands
When I say that my friends are all I am
Ooooh, try to make it the length
without showing your break
Ooooh, the gift is always
wrapped with strings hard attached
“This song is about chasing your dreams all while missing home and acknowledging the sacrifices,” Quested explains. “When things get tough, you begin to miss the simple things in life that keep you grounded. You try to be brave and push through, but chasing the dream is ‘hard’ and not for the faint of heart.”
That push and pull is more than thematic; it’s lived experience. “Honestly it’s really about being homesick,” he adds. “Since I was in high school, I’d dreamed of touring and playing shows with my friends. I’m really lucky to have done a bunch of touring in Australia and even in the US and UK. The thing is, the more serious things get – the longer you’re away. It’s crazy tough out there – you’re broke and tired, and it starts to get brutal. ‘Hard’ is basically a song about that. As amazing as these opportunities are, they come with a price.”
You can feel that price in every corner of the song – in the ragged exhaustion of its verses, in the way its melodies stretch and strain, and especially in the way it builds toward its final moments, where everything seems to crest and spill over at once. “Musically I just heard the song getting heavier with all that guitar feedback,” Quested says. “Emotionally it’s similar – everything is fine until you one day realise everything is not fine.”
You’ll find a way
You’ll find a way
Maybe you’ll find a way
Ooooh, you’re lying to yourself
if you call this hope
Ooooh, try to hide it but
you already know you’ve let go
Ooooh, try to make it the length
without showing your break, c’mon
Ooooh, this gift is always
wrapped with strings hard attached
That realization lingers long after the final note fades. “Hard” has no interest in polishing exhaustion into inspiration; it lets the contradiction stay difficult. There is beauty in chasing a life that once felt impossible, but there is ache in the distance it demands, and Quested is honest enough to hold both at once. In doing so, Local the Neighbour turns a deeply personal reckoning into a quietly universal, timeless anthem: A reminder that even the most meaningful pursuits can leave us untethered, and that sometimes, the hardest part of moving forward is everything we leave behind. “This gift is always wrapped with strings hard attached,” he sings in the chorus – a stark, poetic acknowledgment that every opportunity carries its own weight, and every dream asks something in return.
That is what makes Local the Neighbour feel so exciting right now. Sword doesn’t arrive as a neat introduction so much as a fully felt arrival – six songs shaped by history, instinct, tension, and release. Quested’s background gives the music muscle and detail, but his greatest strength is emotional clarity: He knows how to make a song feel intimate without shrinking it, heavy without deadening it, and cathartic without forcing an easy breakthrough.
With Sword out in the world, Local the Neighbour stands as one of Australia’s most compelling new indie rock voices – an artist whose songs hit hard because they’re built with nuance, warmth, and an unguarded emotional clarity.
These songs make room for doubt, frustration, tenderness, and fear; they ask what it costs to keep going, and what we cling to when the road stops feeling romantic. “Hard” may be the EP’s most aching reckoning, but it also captures the pulse that runs through the whole project: The need to keep moving, even when the dream starts asking more than you knew you had to give.
David Quested recently sat down with Atwood Magazine to discuss the making of “Hard,” the evolution of Local the Neighbour, and the price that comes with chasing a life in music. Read our full conversation below, and spend some time with Sword wherever you listen.
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:: stream/purchase Sword here ::
:: connect with Local the Neighbour here ::
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Stream: “Hard” – Local the Neighbour
A CONVERSATION WITH LOCAL THE NEIGHBOUR
Atwood Magazine: David, for those who are just discovering Local the Neighbour today through this writeup, what do you want them to know about you and your music?
Local the Neighbour: I’m a musician based in Melbourne, Australia who loves making music in my attic and playing in bands with my friends. I come from more of a drumming background where I’ve always been a collaborator in musical settings. Local the Neighbour is a very DIY project where I’m in control of everything and am able to invite close friends in my community to work on things with me. It’s my ultimate creative outlet.
Who are some of your musical north stars, and what are you most excited about the music you're making today?
Local the Neighbour: I’m heavily influenced by a wide range of music, however a big one for me a number of years ago was Bon Iver. At the time I discovered Justin Vernon, I was still studying jazz music and was on exchange at UCLA at the time. I think there were a few factors to this, but the second Bon Iver album really made me fall back in love with songs and made me step away from pursuing jazz to focus on songwriting. I listened to that album multiple times a day for literally months.
I still have a deep love of improvising musicians and older jazz records. The energy of Keith Jarret’s trio or Brad Mehldau’s art of the trio still really excites me. Their fearlessness is a huge north star for me when thinking about anything creative.
Then there are just artists I love who I listen to regularly in my everyday life. Obviously Alex G is a huge one for me, Paramore (Zac Farro is a huge influence for me in many ways), Hovvdy, and even artists like Glaive. If I didn’t come from such a band/instrumental background, I feel like I’d be making music more like Glaive. [laughs]
What's the story behind your song “Hard”?
Local the Neighbour: Honestly, it’s really about being homesick. Since I was in high school, I’d dreamed of touring and playing shows with my friends. I’m really lucky to have done a bunch of touring in Australia and even in the US and UK. The thing is, the more serious things get – the longer you’re away. It’s crazy tough out there – you’re broke and tired, and it starts to get brutal. ‘Hard’ is basically a song about that. As amazing as these opportunities are, they come with a price.
You've talked about how this track balances chasing your dreams and missing home, and I'm fascinated by the mixed emotions we hear not just in the lyrics, but in the song itself – how it rises to a fever pitch toward the end, shifting the entire listening experience along with it! Can you talk about your vision for the track, and how it plays out in your mind?
Local the Neighbour: I hadn’t really thought about this. Musically I just heard the song getting heavier with all that guitar feedback. I will say though emotionally it’s similar, everything is fine until you one day realise everything is not fine. [laughs]
What do you hope listeners take away from “Hard,” and what have you taken away from creating it and now putting it out?
Local the Neighbour: Hopefully if people like it, they can find their own meaning of the song to them. They might have their own understanding of it that resonates with them and I find that really exciting!
Honestly when I’m making these songs, I’m just stoked I got it done. Making music is such a long process, so I’m happy it’s finally out in the world and not on one of my random hard drives. [laughs]
In the spirit of paying it forward, who are you listening to these days that you would recommend to our readers?
Local the Neighbour: Cat Stevens, Water From Your Eyes, Glaive, and Truman Sinclair.
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:: stream/purchase Sword here ::
:: connect with Local the Neighbour here ::
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Stream: “Hard” – Local the Neighbour
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