After writing 2022’s Giving the World Away in lockdown with the live show firmly in mind, Harriette Pilbeam took a different approach for her third album as Hatchie. She put touring on the back burner to just let this set of songs develop naturally and gradually, finding more inspiration in books and movies than in other music and relocating from California back to her native Brisbane and then to Melbourne. Pilbeam immersed herself in such melancholic romance films as Before Sunrise and Blue Valentine, savoring the poignancy of extended longing. The warm, woozy songs on Liquorice capture that sensation nicely, with the title track especially echoing the heightened reality of experiencing intense new love. “We’re just getting to the good bit,” she sings, before the swooning refrain “Don’t need anything other than this.” Produced by Melina Duterte (aka Jay Som) in her LA home studio, the album also features Pilbeam’s trusty partner Joe Agius (RINSE) and Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa. Pilbeam thrives in those close collaborations, while still sounding entirely like herself: lead single “Lose It Again” is a co-write with Orchin’s Jeremy McLennan, yet it’s exactly the kind of sugared dream pop she has always done so well. And even when she slips darker lyrical undertones into “Only One Laughing,” her lilting voice and the rippling guitar effects provide comforting reassurance.