Not even a global pandemic can keep them down, with Kingswood earning their reputation as one of Australia’s hardest-working bands thanks to the news of their surprise new project.
When Australia was first hit with COVID-19-inspired restrictions back in March, Kingswood were one of the first bands to really bear the brunt of these decisions. Having launched their latest album, Juveniles, on that very same day, the group’s national tour was cut short immediately, leaving only the first three dates of an extensive trek completed.
“You generally only get one crack at going around on that big tour,” frontman Fergus Linacre explained to Rolling Stone soon afterwards. “Y’know, people’s attention spans aren’t that big anymore, so you need to grab their attention when it comes out, do your big album tour, and then start again.
“I suppose in terms of celebrating the album we created, by the time we tour again we might have a new single out from the next record, or something else we’re working on. So I think it’s just that we don’t get to celebrate this album in the way that we wanted to.”
Not content to let lockdowns and restrictions turn 2020 into a wasted year, Kingswood quickly regrouped and recorded a live set at Melbourne’s Newmarket Studios as a way to keep fans engaged, before releasing their latest single, ‘If Only’, back in August. Since then though, things have been a little bit on the quiet side of things for the group, leaving fans to wonder if they have indeed been working hard on album number four with their newfound downtime.
Now, the band have returned with their latest effort, sharing an alternate version of Juveniles, with the reimagined Americana-influences project titled Reveries.
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Set to be released on Friday, October 23rd, the new companion piece to Juveniles sees the band swapping the harder rock sounds of their ARIA #13 album to create a collection of tracks that show another side of the acclaimed outfit, harnessing their natural dynamic talent as they dive into the music they’ve always loved and thrived upon.
“This music is a collection of songs that were born from certain and specific emotional reflection, rumination and ponder,” the group explain. “On Juveniles, once complete with the writing phase, they took on the form of a rich and dedicated rock and roll album; nuanced and thoroughly investigated, but didn’t originate as such.
“Reveries highlights those moments of inception and is an entirely alternate universe. More intimate and perhaps with more personal insight due to what is really being highlighted.”
Recorded across four days at Newmarket Studios, Reveries sees Kingswood working again with BAFTA nominated engineer Guus Hoevenaars (Woodes, Scissor Sisters), while the band’s “fifth Beatle”, the Grammy Award-winning Eddie Spear, took on mixing and mastering duties from his Nashville studio.
Adding instrumentation courtesy of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra musicians Michelle Wood (cello) and Sarah Curro (violin), Shane Reilly (lap-steel Guitar), Esther Henderson (fiddle), Steve Hornby (double bass), and even Alex Laska’s own sister, Irene Laska (flute), the record is a truly unique listen.
Stripping back the boisterous, hard-rocking layers of each track, Reveries sees the group allowing the listener to become immersed in the world the group have created with their latest album. Tracks like the raucous ‘Ready Steady’ become reimagined as the stunning ‘Out Of Colour’, turning what was once a track almost custom-made to lose yourself in during a sweaty live concert into an entirely new immersive experience to sink into and once again lose yourself in, albeit in an entirely different context.
“We decided to re-record the album in its entirety but this time, each song would be crafted for a sole listener,” the group explain. “In an armchair by a fire, on a walk through the bush, to reflect our emotional states and the true essences of each song; in the hope that it would perhaps console others in the way that it has now for us. It is an album that is cinematic; let it score your day.”
Kingswood’s Reveries will be officially released on October 23rd (with pre-saves available now), but if you simply can’t wait that long for one of the year’s most impressive releases, give it an early spin below.
Check out Reveries by Kingswood:
