“The Choice Is Yours! Godspeed!”: These New South Whales Announce New Album ‘GODSPEED’
These New South Whales announce their latest album, GODSPEED out independently on November 28. With the news comes the release of the title track, GODSPEED, a thumping mix of new wave, melodic hardcore and Britpop that forms the sonic backbone of the album.
Where their TNSW LP took the band from brute force basement punk to hardcore fusion, their GODSPEED LP pulls from an even broader church of influences, from ’80s balladry and British guitar pop to full-throttle hardcore, the result of a fruitful partnership with producer and punk luminary Ben Greenberg (Depeche Mode, Drab Majesty, Show Me The Body). “The GODSPEED sessions were a blast,” Greenberg shares. “The guys came in with real purpose and commitment to push themselves every step of the way. That intensity translated directly into the recordings, and I think you can really hear it in every track. It was a special experience.”
These New South Whales have always straddled the line between harsh reality and comic relief, but they have never betrayed their values or the genre’s anti-establishment ethic. GODSPEED, they explain, is as personal as it is politically charged.
“GODSPEED is about coming home to yourself, living on your own terms, reclaiming and celebrating your autonomy, and trusting your own intuition,” says singer Jamie Timony. “It’s about freedom, self-reliance, and rejecting groupthink and false authority. Now more than ever, it’s vital to separate truth from lies, to stand up to power no matter its size – and to do it with love in our hearts, not hate, which isn’t always easy! Godspeed!”
These New South Whales are a band in conversation with a continually shifting hellscape. Switched on and sick of it all, it’s a reminder that salvation has no blueprint. Trust yourself and see. First hinted at with the earlier INSTINCT and magnified through today’s single, GODSPEED is rich with the exposition of personal autonomy. “The choice is yours! Godspeed!”
This motto comes from vocalist Jamie Timony’s own groupthink experience. Of the title track, he shares, “I, like many artists, don’t particularly like to prescribe the meaning of any song. But for me personally, the lyrics to ‘GODSPEED’ were drawn from my experience of how joyous it felt to leave Alcoholics Anonymous after nine years inside of it. When you land in AA, they tell you you’re terminally ill. They say you’ve got a “disease” that only a spiritual experience can fix – and that you’ll never fully recover. Sure – but what if people were just told the truth? That they do have the capacity to make different choices? That they’re not broken, not diseased, not doomed unless they become lifelong spiritual messengers of the 12 steps?”
Affecting through to their last word – “Don’t let anyone in your life tell you what you can or can’t do” – GODSPEED the song, and the album as a whole, runs with moments both vociferate and soft spoken. Dismissing any concerns of the band having become too self-serious, the album is as eclectic and galvanising as it is a damn good time – a refinement rather than a reinvention for These New South Whales.
THESE NEW SOUTH WHALES
GODSPEED LP
out Nov 28 via ADA
PRE-SAVE/PRE-ORDER HERE
GODSPEED is out now, buy/stream it here.
GODSPEED TRACKLIST
INTRO
INSTINCT
MISS HER
R.I.P. ME
BIG MACHINE
NOBODY LISTENS
PIG
BIRDBRAIN
BE WHAT YOU WANNA BE
ECSTACY
GODSPEED
TOUR DATES
Presented by Select Music & 23
Supported by Delivery^ and The Antics*
Fri 17 Oct – Crowbar – Meanjin / Brisbane^ (TIX)
Fri 24 Oct – Crowbar – Eora / Sydney* (TIX)
Sat 25 Oct – The Night Cat – Naarm / Melbourne* (TIX)
Fri 31 Oct – Mojo’s – Walyalup / Fremantle^ (TIX)
Sat 01 Nov – Jive – Kaurna / Adelaide* (TIX)
Tickets are available HERE
