After decades of constant acclaim, it’s been six years between albums for Sarah, but it hasn’t been years of silence. With a childhood spent in the Pentecostal church and 2020 seemingly providing the end times she had prepared for, the birth of her second child in these confusing times provided Sarah with the chance to re-evaluate the past and take stock of all that has been and will be in her life.

The result is her long-awaited seventh album, I Just Need To Conquer This Mountain; a record of late night reflections on goodbyes, grief, new beginnings and an important friendship that underpinned her childhood. Recorded at Rancom Studios in Eora/Sydney with engineer Brent Clark, and produced by Sarah, it marked a new approach to writing and recording from that of her earlier records: “This album was probably the most relaxed & free feeling record I’ve made,” she said.

In making this record Blasko focussed on enjoying herself in the studio rather than fixating on the result. She let the musicians she worked with on creating the album bring themselves to the songs, trusting in their talents and the flow of collaboration rather than dictating what she wanted them to do. And while she laboured over her first album with 12-hour days for weeks on end, this record was recorded over just five days. That approach fuelled some of the most beautiful, assured and honest work of her long career.