Brisbane singer-songwriter Your Man Alex Smith raises the curtain on his new album 'Slow Burn' (out 18 June), a musical theatre style journey through the breakdown of a relationship.
"It was about an intense experience I went through," Alex reveals. "I didn't want to get preachy or try and ruin anybody's life, I just needed to write art and express myself."I don't want to go into too much detail. Basically, I was in a relationship that went very toxic; it was a very difficult experience and it really affected me.
"Then it was over, and I had this heavy weight and I had to do something with it."
'Slow Burn' is an album true to its title, building the narrative song by song. It has also taken four years to come to fruition and will be Alex's first full-length album after releasing two EPs: 'Crazy Days' in 2014 and 'Guilty' in 2017.
In true Your Man Alex Smith style, the songs on 'Slow Burn' gleefully bounce between style and genre, offering a tracklist spanning dark country, whimsical folk, rock and obligatory moments of melancholy.
"A criticism I got in the last EP 'Guilty', I read a review that said: 'The first song was a robot song, and I was expecting the rest of it to be a similar genre, but it wasn't. I don't think he knew what he wanted it to be.’; but that is what I wanted it to be," Alex says.
"So, I wanted to make it really clear that I am intentionally having fun in different genres so that it doesn't sound like I'm meandering to find my voice. The voice is the different genres."
Because of his penchant to genre-hop at whim, Your Man Alex Smith has struggled to tap into mainstream popularity.
Across his discography, Alex has experimented with various approaches and found his songwriting strength lies in his ability to work with a broad musical palette. "[The] 'Crazy Days' [EP was] my 'write what I think will get on the radio' songs, and that didn't blow up immediately," he says.
"Then with 'Guilty' I was going to do whatever I want because if pandering to the radio isn't going to get me on the radio then I should just make art that I want to make.
"I wanted to find a balance between making music that I want to make, music people wanted to hear and music that I enjoy playing. And also, I realised I'm never going to be a Top 40 musician.
"The kind of music I make isn't part of that world, and that's not to say either is better or worse; I just don't think that's my journey to success.
"Having come to terms with that, everyone says they get a theatre vibe from me so why not lean into that theatre vibe.
"It's what I like to do, and I think it makes me stand out, so it's definitely something I did with this album."
Your Man Alex Smith launches 'Slow Burn' at Woolly Mammoth (Brisbane) 18 June supported by Sabrina Lawrie and Aspy Jones.
