Named for her childhood habit of bumping into things, Noongar woman Amy Dowd, aka Bumpy, has spun her soaring voice into winning the 2022 Music Victoria Awards’ Archie Roach Foundation Award For Emerging Talent, and an 18-month residency with the Melbourne International Jazz Festival (MIJF) and the Australian Art Orchestra (AAO).

The residency financially and logistically helped her to return to Noongar Boodja and deepen her understanding of language and knowledge, resulting in a suite of music composed with the AAO and premiered as Tooni at MIJF in October 2024. 

“We visited language holders and people who had worked with my Nan, who wrote the first edition of the Noongar dictionary,” Bumpy says. “We travelled around and connected with Elders and went to language centres, and [the ACA and MIJF] really just supported being First Nations, being led from my perspective… 

^{Photo: Emily Dynes}

“I wrote skeleton pieces, and I was like, "How the hell do I pull something like that apart, that kind of experience?" [Then we] went into rehearsal with the Art Orchestra and fleshed it out. They really just gave me the space and the resources to experience what I needed to do to inform the work.”

Bumpy and her band, comprised of friends and family members, then toured the project to the UK and Japan, with help from Music Australia for international touring and artistic development.

“I hadn't travelled there before, so it was really interesting,” Bumpy says. “A lot of people didn't know much about First Nations people in Australia, so I guess I was quite hesitant to bring stories like this to London and be like, ‘how am I going to be received and what does this even look like, to come over here?’ But it was really powerful and a lot of people were able to relate. They came up and shared their stories with me, or [said] it was a really generous thing to share.

It's funny to talk to somebody who maybe didn't even know that your First Nations people exist and going like, ‘whoa, I have to go back to square one and okay, how do I talk about this in 30 seconds?’ 

 
^{Photo: Emily Dynes}

“It was really interesting to have to bring the history with you outside of just your own personal experience. So, it was quite bizarre for me. But it felt very empowering. We brought our flag along and everything, really tried to show up and represent. 

“I was already loaded to be like, ‘All right, I'm showing up and I'm going to stamp my feet and tell my story in the place of the coloniser.’ That had never felt more powerful, showing up and singing these stories about Blak pride and Blak anger and Blak sadness, and doing it over there.”

Bumpy then reconceived her existing work into her debut neo-soul and RNB LP, Kanana, due out on Astral People Recordings on Friday 3 October.

“It was a very community, collaborative project, and I always wanted that to be at the centre of it, from the visuals to the garments,” Bumpy says. “Everything was people that we knew or friends of friends and we just looked at, ‘how we can do all these different cross-disciplinary trades?’ So, it was really special to get the whole crew in.”

Bumpy grew up on Gunaikurnai Country (Gippsland) playing music with her family (her mum was in a band) and loving strong singers like, “Etta James or Ella Fitzgerald. I love Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill and yeah, I loved Adele when I was a teenager. But then locally, I loved Emma Donovan, like she was such an idol growing up, and Uncle Kutch [Kutcha Edwards]. And she's [Donovan] also Noongar too. 

It’s actually really special, because Emma Donovan sang on this album as well. It's so beautiful to have this strong friendship now and just become family. 

“To have that kind of full circle was really special. I think it's really important to highlight the people in our own backyard that are doing amazing work. I mean, the First Nations music community is so strong and so powerful, and we're all very connected and supporting each other and playing on each other's songs or always just checking in at events.”

Bumpy has also been the frontwoman for Naarm group Squid Nebula since the soul, disco and groove band formed around classmates at the Victorian College of the Arts, as a relief from the improvisational jazz they were learning. After Covid delays, Squid Nebula’s first LP From Here To You came out in 2023 – Bumpy says new material is next on the to do list.

“We are bunkering in and writing at the moment. We're looking to write our next album and hoping to get in the studio at the end of this year and the top of next year. It's been really fun to have both projects working simultaneously, because the Bumpy stuff has been deeply personal, and then the goal for Squid Nebula is like, ‘let's get the one AM dance floor album happening.’ So, it's this beautiful weight evened out and you get to fill up both sides of the cup.”

 
^{Photo: Emily Dynes}

But first, Bumpy is taking to the road to tour Kanana, and also taking some time to appreciate the achievement of her first solo album.

“Basically the rest of the summer is just getting back on the road and taking the album around. We’re trying to get the choir back together for a launch show in Naarm. I've also slowly been writing again as well and just trying to figure out what I want to do next. But at the moment, I'm like, ‘let's just enjoy the live part of it, enjoy the rollout.’ 

“I'm very good at having a bajillion projects at one time. 

I always wanted to have my debut album in my hands, and that's about to happen, so I'm trying to be like, ‘no, just chill out and pause for a moment because you've done something quite big… Just take the space to acknowledge that'.

Bumpy: Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify

The Music Australia Export Development Fund is a matched funding initiative designed to provide financial support to a diverse range of Australian artists at distinct phases of their international careers. Funding rounds occur four times a year. Bumpy has been funded by Music Australia for international touring and artistic development.

Bumpy's debut album Kanana is out Friday 3 October. Pre-order here.