Returning for her second SXSW in a row, San Mei AKA Emily Hamilton began her musical journey at the keys of her family piano, a consequence of a love ingrained and inherited from her dad’s favourite Beatles records and penchant for classic 60’s pop.

San Mei is enamoured with the transportativenature of music, her guitar heavy, delay ridden, dreamy popexplores the hyper-blaze of existence and the intricacies of the in between. Family and home have always been integral to Hamilton’s creative process. The daughter of Chinese-Malaysian and New Zealand born parents, her family immigrated to Australia at an early age. Her parents, resilient and sacrificial, nurtured and encouraged her creatively, instilling in her a gift that she would lean on heavily to help diffuse and navigate the chaos of growing up and forging her identity. Using art as therapy, her songs became a conduit for escape and to shoulder the loss of her mother. Armed with just a MIDI-keyboard and a Macbook San Mei was born.