Fables – Enough: 13th Floor New Song Of The Day
After reintroducing herself with ‘Sundown’, Tāmaki Makaurau singer-songwriter Jess Bailey, aka Fables, gets back into the saddle and rides again with ‘Enough’, the second single from her forthcoming debut album, Change is a Slow-Moving Beast (due 2026 via Home Alone).
Here is the blurb with more:
The track is accompanied by a visualiser made by Bailey with help from Arahi, Shannon McIntyre and Pixel Freeman.
Equally steeped in the closely-sung conventions of intimate, bedsit-folk and the rural, range-roving melodies of alt-country, ‘Enough’ trades in beginnings, endings and the question of whether everything you once shared with someone else was ultimately as ephemeral as light shining through dust. Wounded but still walking, Bailey sings with a yearning melancholy as she reflects on making dreams, a headstrong ticking time bomb, cold feet, and being there all along. In her words, “Didn’t sleep at night, been thirty days since I’ve not cried, and I’m holding out my open hands, I wish I was enough as I am, as I am, as I am.”
““Enough” came from a place where I was too defeated to write in metaphor,” Bailey admits. “I usually blur the lines between what I’m singing about and what I’m actually trying to say, but this time I didn’t have the energy to hide anything. Honesty in my songwriting isn’t something I consciously reach for, but these songs are unintentionally autobiographical; they show me what I’m feeling before I’ve even admitted it to myself. I think the songs found a kind of clarity I wasn’t expecting, a version of truth that feels lived-in, flawed, and human.”
‘Enough’ was recorded with bassist Cass Basil (Tiny Ruins, King Sweeties), multi-instrumentalist Dave Khan (Marlon Williams, Reb Fountain), drummer Arahi (Te Tokotoru, Pony Baby), mixed by Australian audio engineer and musician Dan Luscombe (of The Drones) and produced by Bailey, Khan and Reb Fountain.
“The song went through four different recordings before it finally found the atmosphere it needed. We built the track around the simplest version of it: just me and the guitar. From there, the sounds we added were chosen for the way they could hold space rather than occupy it. Nothing in the arrangement tries to fix the feeling; it just stays with it.”
Fables’ new single is accompanied by an official visualiser filmed in a pastoral family backyard and directed and produced by Bailey herself. A striking Number 8 Wire effort, it was created collaboratively with Arahi (cameras, editing, and colour grading), Shannon McIntyre (on-set assistant, choreography, and special effects), and Pixel Freeman (cameras).
Shot over a single afternoon and edited by night, ‘Enough’s’ accompanying visualiser plays with blue, green, white, and pink colour palettes, light, shadows, and sparklers, evoking the feeling of being enfolded in a bittersweet summertime daydream. As an act of worldbuilding, it expands perfectly on the gothic Kiwiana fantasias Bailey conjured up with the ‘Sundown’ visual treatment, adding a life-sized diorama and art-house prop and set design to her repertoire.
“The intent for the video was to build a small, handmade world that reflects the emotional landscape of ‘Enough’. Something fragile, saturated, and slightly surreal. Arahi and I found these cloud backdrops at First Scene, and everything grew from there. We loved the idea of creating a tiny diorama that slowly reveals itself: a place that feels artificial and theatrical, yet still tender and intimate.”
“The video is less about narrative and more about mood. It’s me moving through a constructed landscape that mirrors the internal one: fragile, a bit theatrical, and on the verge of erupting. The whole thing was built with our hands, guided by instinct, and shaped by trust.”
STREAM FABLES – ENOUGH
