With a new album and signature Fender Strat, Tash Sultana is poised to be guitar’s hottest breakout artist of 2021.

BY JOE BOSSO

AT THE AGE of 18, Tash Sultana was given a high school assignment to list lifetime goals. As it turned out, the young Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist had it all mapped out. “‘I want to get a record deal, and I want to headline music festivals around the world,’” Sultana recalls writing. “And all of that happened by the time I turned 21.”

Before that, though, Sultana busked on the streets of Melbourne and played open-mic nights long past teenage curfews. But this was no solo folkie affair. Sultana — who identifies as nonbinary and uses the pronouns they and them — complemented their dramatically expressive voice with a penchant for gnashing, big-time electric guitar solos, and perfected a dazzlingly fresh approach to rock and R&B by using looping pedals to create hypnotic, guitar-based soundscapes. “I just wanted to rip through things with my own flair,” Sultana explains. “There’s no point trying to copy somebody, because it just wastes time. You’ve heard that all before. I was always set on the idea of being my authentic self, and I didn’t really need any other musicians to do my thing. My sound was my truth.”

“THERE’S NO POINT TRYING TO COPY SOMEBODY, BECAUSE IT JUST WASTES TIME. YOU’VE HEARD THAT ALL BEFORE”

Sultana with their new Fender Tash Sultana Stratocaster

That singular sound went viral in 2016 thanks to a couple of “live bedroom” videos of the original songs “Jungle” and “Notion” that showed off Sultana’s preternatural skills. Rather than simply performing the songs, the guitarist seemed to inhabit them — the fiery guitar solos and soulful vocals exploded from somewhere deep within — and one could almost feel the breakneck joy they got from making them. The videos racked up tens of millions of views, and it wasn’t long before the Sultana was making good on that high school assignment, headlining festivals and signing a deal with Mom + Pop Records.