“Slightly Below The Middle” reckons with some of Georgia Maq’s most complex and honest storytelling to date, while marking a full commitment to a country-leaning sound. The Australian artist, formerly the driving force of emo-rock group Camp Cope, has been releasing music under her solo, self-titled project for about a decade. “Slightly Below The Middle” follows “Pay Per View” from Georgia Maq’s upcoming EP Gods Favorite (out this fall via her label 1000 Rats) was co-produced by Daniel Fox (Ryan Beatty, Ian Sweet). Maq even sheds her native Australian accent here, returning to the American twang she’s sung since childhood: “Honestly, it was never really natural for me in the first place, I started singing when I was a kid in an American accent because I was brought up on country and bluegrass music (dad) and Cold Chisel (mum) and I feel like I’ve come back to that.“
Underneath a constant, sweetly tilting pedal steel backdrop, Maq’s unvarnished vocals soar with raw honesty, her blunt phrasing revealing an unfiltered psyche and truthful recollection. The song opens with the surreal image of the devil playing the fiddle in a lawn chair, a representation of evil that fills the void left by an absent father and alludes to a Faustian-esque arrangement (“a deal with the devil”). Expletive-laced confessions of “fucking my way up to the top” and pleas to be “nailed to the cross” are candidly delivered, punctuated by the self-aware refrain “I know.” This introspective cynicism exposes a tortured inner-world that is aware that survival may entail the ultimate sacrifice, and still far from any true reconciliation. In “Slightly Below The Middle,” Georgia Maq quashes any doubt about her authenticity and creative purpose, starting the next chapter of her artistic journey.
“This song is basically a conversation between me and whoever the boss of the Devil and God is… I grew up listening to my dad play the fiddle part of The Devil Went Down To Georgia and I always loved it because it says my name and I love hearing my name in a song.”
-Georgia Maq on “Slightly Below The Middle”
“Slightly Below The Middle” is released ahead of Georgia Maq’s upcoming EP, God’s Favorite, out September 4th, 2025 via her label 1000 Rats. Preorder available here.
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