BURL3Y | INTERVIEW + TRACK REVIEW

Across an ever-growing catalogue of music, BURL3Y and IVY have quietly blurred the line between autobiography and storytelling, transforming everyday Australian life into an interconnected world filled with familiar faces, shared memories and recurring characters. What begins as hip-hop soon expands into something much larger, where each release feels less like a standalone single and more like another chapter in an unfolding story.

At the heart of the project is an unwavering commitment to authenticity. Whether exploring resilience, family, redemption or the humour hidden within life's ordinary moments, The BURL3Y Project refuses to chase trends or borrowed identities. Instead, it embraces an unmistakably Australian voice, proving that the most compelling stories don't need to be invented. They simply need to be told honestly.

With their latest release, Out of the Fog, the duo continue building a catalogue driven by hope, vulnerability and genuine human connection. We sat down with BURL3Y and IVY to talk about creating an entire world through music, why real people make the best characters, and how impact will always matter more than algorithms.

TRACK REVIEW - OUT OF THE FOG

From its very first moments, Out of the Fog feels like the beginning of a comeback story.

A cinematic introduction gives way to a confident beat, instantly evoking the melodic honesty of early Eminem, yet The BURL3Y Project never loses sight of its own identity. That unmistakable Australian accent grounds the track in something authentic, reminding you these are stories born from local streets, local struggles and real lives rather than borrowed personas.

One of the song's greatest strengths is the conversation between BURL3Y and IVY. Their contrasting vocal styles don't compete with one another. They complement each other beautifully, trading verses like two people navigating the same storm from different perspectives. There's pain woven throughout the lyrics, but it's balanced by loyalty, hope and the quiet reassurance that neither of them is walking through it alone.

The production deserves equal praise. The crisp fizz of the 808 cuts through the mix with real authority, giving the track a modern pulse while never overshadowing the songwriting. Every instrumental layer feels intentional, building steadily towards moments that hit with genuine emotional weight. It's polished without sacrificing personality, allowing the message to remain front and centre.

Structurally, Out of the Fog constantly rewards the listener. Each section arrives exactly when it needs to, keeping the momentum flowing while giving the emotional narrative room to breathe. It's the kind of track that feels just as comfortable through headphones as it would erupting across a festival stage. I could already picture a sea of people bouncing shoulder to shoulder, somewhere between a hip-hop crowd and a Linkin Park mosh pit, shouting every word back at the stage.

Out of the Fog is more than a statement of resilience. It's a reminder that sometimes the clearest path forward isn't found by escaping the darkness, but by walking through it together.

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The BURL3Y Project feels less like a band and more like an expanding universe, with recurring characters, different perspectives and interconnected stories. At what point did you realise you weren’t just writing songs anymore, but building an entire world people could keep returning to?

Honestly, I don't think I realised it until other people started pointing it out. I was just writing about life as it happened. Then I looked back and realised every song was connected somehow. The people, the memories, the places—they all kept crossing paths. That's when I understood I wasn't just making songs anymore. I was creating a world built from real life, and every new track became another chapter instead of just another single.

A lot of artists build a brand. You’ve chosen to build a cast of characters. What can LogDog, Mad Dog, G-Bomb and Ziggy Balls say about life that BURL3Y himself never could?

They remind people that life isn't serious all the time. BURL3Y carries a lot of the heavier stories, but the others bring the laughs, the chaos, the family moments and the unconditional love. They're not made-up characters for entertainment—they're real people and a real dog who are part of our everyday lives. Giving them their own voices makes the whole project feel honest because that's what our life actually looks like.

BURL3Y, your music often speaks from resilience and survival, while IVY’s writing seems to embrace vulnerability without apology. Have those contrasting perspectives changed the way each of you sees the same life experiences?

Definitely. Before Ivy, I thought being strong meant keeping everything inside and just pushing through it. She's taught me that being open about what you're feeling doesn't make you weak—it actually takes courage. I think I've helped remind her that no matter how hard things get, you've still got to keep moving forward. We can live through the exact same moment but write completely different songs about it, and that's one of the things that makes this partnership work.

Australian hip-hop has often looked overseas for inspiration, but your music feels unapologetically Australian. Was that identity something you consciously protected, or did it naturally become part of your sound?

It happened naturally because that's who we are. We never wanted to fake an accent or pretend we came from somewhere else. Australia has its own stories, its own humour, its own slang and its own culture. We wanted people to hear that straight away. If someone puts on a BURL3Y track, I want them to know within seconds that this came from Australia.

The title Out of the Fog suggests clarity after confusion rather than victory after struggle. What was the moment in your own lives where the fog finally started to lift?

Meeting each other. That's the honest answer. We'd both been carrying a lot before we met. Life wasn't magically fixed overnight, but suddenly there was hope again. Having someone beside you who believes in you changes the way you see tomorrow. That's what Out of the Fog is really about. It's not about life becoming perfect—it's about finally seeing where you're heading.

The strongest creative partnerships aren’t built on agreeing all the time. What’s something the two of you fundamentally disagree on artistically that actually makes the music stronger?

I'm the one who always wants to turn everything up. Bigger beats, more energy, more aggression. Ivy's the one asking, "But what's the song actually saying?" Sometimes she'll tell me to pull it back, and she's usually right. Other times I'll push her to take more risks than she'd normally take. We challenge each other, and I honestly think the songs would be weaker if we agreed on everything.

Many of your songs deal with loyalty, family and redemption rather than ego or status. Do you think modern hip-hop has become too focused on image, and not enough on legacy?

I think every artist has their own reason for making music, so I don't judge that. For me though, I'd rather leave behind songs that mean something than songs that just chase trends. Numbers are great, but they're not why I started doing this. If someone listens to one of our tracks ten years from now and it still helps them, that's real success to me.

There’s a cinematic quality to the way your catalogue unfolds, almost like every release reveals another chapter rather than existing on its own. Do you ever find yourselves writing songs because the characters demand them, rather than because you originally planned to?

Yeah, all the time. We'll be sitting there talking about something that happened during the day and suddenly one of us says, "That's a song." We don't force it. The stories naturally keep growing because life keeps happening. The characters aren't there because we needed content—they're there because they're part of our lives.

Success today is usually measured in streams, followers and algorithms, yet you’ve repeatedly spoken about impact instead. Has there ever been a message from a listener that reminded you why you started making music in the first place?

The messages that stay with me aren't the ones saying, "Great song." They're the ones where someone says, "I needed this today," or "This helped me get through something." Knowing a song connected with someone you've never met is an incredible feeling. That's the sort of success you can't measure with numbers.

If someone discovered The BURL3Y Project twenty years from now with no context about Australian hip-hop or your personal story, what do you hope convinces them they haven’t just found an album… they’ve stumbled into an entire world worth getting lost in?

I hope they feel like they're getting to know real people. Every song is connected to a real memory, a real relationship or a real moment in our lives. If they finish one album and immediately want to know what happened before it or what happened next, then we've done our job. We never wanted to build just a music catalogue. We wanted to build something people could keep coming back to, almost like opening another chapter in a book.