“I am Shelby hear me roar” is the tag line for 21 year-old Shelby Lim’s MySpace site.

Despite her youth, Shelby’s confidence and distinctively gravelly, wailing voice—familiar to Scarlet Bar regulars—ensures that she stands out and gets noticed.

Shelby has been singing since she was very young and found that through learning guitar, an interest in song writing came naturally.

“I was about 14 when I started playing guitar, and as soon as I could play some chords I started writing,” Shelby recalls.

“Song writing was, and still is, an outlet for my emotions, and like most teenagers, I had a lot of emotions to get out!”

A few short years after she began to write and play, Shelby had received her first award. At 17, she won the 2004 Face the Music singer/songwriter competition.

"At that stage I was still getting used to writing and performing, so knowing that I could measure up to accomplished performers definitely gave me a boost of confidence and determination,” she says.

Listening to the music of bands like the Indigo Girls, The Superjesus and Nirvana influenced Shelby’s “melodic, moody, sometimes dark” style.

“I listened to a lot of the Indigo Girls when I was younger. I think this strengthened me musically—not only vocally, but in writing too. I learnt so much from listening to their music and I still do,” she explains.

“When I started playing guitar I was listening to The Superjesus and other [Australian] rock, and that is perhaps when I started embracing rock and not just folk.

I love Nirvana, and although my music isn’t quite as ‘angsty’, I admire the powerful and emotive vocals, and I try to incorporate a grungy feel in some of my rockier tunes.”

While she’s not a teenager any more, these days Shelby still finds creative inspiration flows more readily when she’s feeling down.

“I write at my best when I’m troubled, sad or angry,” she admits. “Writing music is therapeutic in that it allows you to create art out of negative emotions.”

Shelby’s main artistic interest is in creating metaphorical lyrics that allow for a range of interpretations. She finds that songs about the commonly-covered topics of love, relationships and break-ups are the easiest to write (she has plenty of them), but in addition to external relationships, Shelby draws on her inner world for song writing inspiration.

“I’ve always been very introspective, so examining my internal state and then finding creative ways of expressing what I wouldn’t normally say is challenging,” she says, “but [it] is also a learning experience.”

During the next few months Shelby will be working on a new EP, which she hopes will be a better representation of her music than the previous one.

“The recordings I have been making with [my guitarist] Steve are spot on. The difference he has made to the songs is quite amazing. Before, my voice and lyrics were the main focus of the songs, but Steve has added so much musically that the songs now sound complete and impressive,” Shelby says.

“We’ve been working on the songs for about a year now, so we are so excited to finally record the EP. We are really looking forward to getting it out there.”

Shelby Lim plays the Massive Sounds Festival on June28 at the Jubilee Hotel. For more information visit: .myspace.com/massivesoundsfestival, www.shelby.com.au and myspace.com/shelbylim

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