Still beaming off the back of being crowned Male Artist of the Year at the 2023 Golden Guitar Awards earlier this year, local Country music superstar Andrew Swift is inviting fans into his electrifying world through his third studio album, Lightning Strikes and Neon Nights.
Released to the world on Friday 28 April, expectations were high for the upbeat record, which follows on from two Aria #1 albums, Call Out For the Cavalry and The Art of Letting Go.
Despite the pressure to improve on previous albums, the offering has been received well, says Swift.
“It’s always nerve wracking to release a new record, it’s a roller coaster of emotions, both excited and nervous to get it out there, but we’ve had such great feedback so far,” he said.
Lightning Strikes & Neon Nights’ is Swift’s third full length offering – one inadvertently less brooding than the Alt-Country musings that first put the star on the map.
“I feel like this album is the next step in my writing and sound that has been naturally evolving over the past five years,” Swift said.
“It’s overall, more upbeat than my previous two records, I guess it’s a reflection of me being more happy.
“I get to do what I love making music, I have a lovely girlfriend and support system…life is good!”
Written over two sessions alongside Golden Guitar and ARIA award winning producer, Matt Fell, the stories on Lightning Strikes & Neon Nights were crafted by Swift alongside an A-list of songwriters, bar one cover written by Fell and his wife Amber Rae Slade.
Three of the 11 tracks enlisted the pen of Nashville-based, Aussie ex-pat, Phil Barton, while homegrown talents Travis Collins, Simone Sordello, Gretta Ziller, Taylor Moss and Alys Ffion round out the roster.
The nostalgic ‘The Good Old Days’ – previously released as a single, which reached #12 on the CountryTown national radio airplay chart and #1 on CMT – was co-written online with Canadian-born Country star, Tenille Townes.
As its breezy title may suggest, the album is packed with fun bops, bursting with energy.
It mixes Swift’s signature grit with retro soundscapes and contemporary rhythms.
Things hit the ground running with ‘Boombox Romance’. Its bristly guitars and stadium-like drums lay a solid foundation for Swift’s tale of rocky romance.
Subsequent tracks, ‘Young Lovers’, ‘Love’s Like a Wrecking Ball’ and ‘The Question feat. Kevin Bennett’ echo similar sentiments about the elation of a new relationship.
Those are what Swift refers to as “the lightning strikes”, while songs that detail Country music’s wilder side, like ‘Cheap Liquor’ and ‘Smoke ‘em If You Got ‘em’ light up like neon nights.
The foot-tapping, light-hearted ‘You and Me and a Bottle of Whiskey’, features backing vocals from Swift’s real-life squeeze, Simone Sordello, and a swag of ‘drunken’ vocals from any of Swift’s friends who could sort of hold a tune.
“Getting everyone to get involved in the gang vocals was great, I loved hearing everyone’s takes as they dribbled through to be collated on the last chorus.”
“Simone wanted to write a song about kissing and I wanted to write one about whiskey, so we made a compromise.”
To round off the 11-track journey Swift closes with a sentimental ode to family.
The masterfully written, ‘Growing Up With Me’, paints a sweetly reminiscent portrait of Swift’s childhood and stands as the one song solely penned by the singer-songwriter.
That track, Swift says, fills him with memories of his childhood growing up in Officer, Beaconsfield and Pakenham Upper.
Coinciding with the record release date on Friday, the Berwick local kicked off his tour at Casey’s own Hallam Hotel.
“It was a really great crowd in there – it was a fun night and a long night.”
Swift will spend the next five months touring throughout regional NSW, QLD, WA and even to Fiji for a week long Country music festival, Tune in the Tropics, in August.
“This tour is a bit different, we’re trying to do more with the full band and kick things up a notch with the sound and the production.”
Lightning Strikes and Neon Nights is available now on CD, vinyl and digital.
