nipaluna/Hobart founded, ARIA-nominated and internationally-acclaimed rollickers A. Swayze & the Ghosts celebrate a remarkable transition from self-destruction to love on their new album Let’s Live a Life Better Than This, a spiked-out, winkingly self-aware record documenting four years of growth and an intense evolution of the band’s sonic world, via an eclectic mix of real-deal alternative rock, post punk, art rock, a splash of 70’s dance-punk and beyond. 

During a touring hiatus, the band turned inwards to reflect on their place and found themselves, for the first time, shedding their old ideals to make music free from community expectations, driven by the urgency of liberating from the creative boundaries they had subconsciously drawn for themselves.

The 10 tracks on Let’s Live A Life Better Than This show an extroverted record that is largely introspective, chronicling shared personal realisations around fear, mental health, trauma, addiction, love, loss and finding a path to liberation & resolution, in parallel to an oftentimes challenging journey of growth that Andrew Swayze says was intrinsic to the album’s creation: “To us, the two are intertwined – without one, the other would cease to have existed. We started as a fierce, self-destructive garage-punk band, reeling from their career being derailed by COVID, to a thoughtful and artistically liberated group held together by love and respect for one another.

“For us, Let’s Live a Life Better Than This is more than just a collection of songs. The making of it was the anvil upon which we were forged over the past four years of transformation. Each song is an honest and intimate document of something observed or learned during that time. It wasn’t until we finished the album that we realised the long, at times challenging, but cathartic process of its making was exactly what each of us needed to grow. Our greatest hope is that even just a fleeting moment on this record resonates with you deeply enough to draw you closer to an authentic and better life.”

Written over four years between Naarm/Melbourne and secluded spots across lutruwita/Tasmania and recorded at Sunset Pig Studios, with Swayze tracking the bulk of his vocals in his spare toilet/DIY soundbooth, Let’s Live a Life Better Than This – self-produced in a first for the band, and mixed by Andy Savours (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Rina Sawayama, Arctic Monkeys) – is the dawning of a new era for A. Swayze & the Ghosts. Densely packed with tight, punchy drums and percussion, Roland and Korg synths and a touch of saxophone, the guitar-led, dance-forward record signifies a zealous transformation, brimming with a renewed energy and intensity, non-traditional rock elements and an unwavering sense of passion and commitment.

Release: October 25th, 2024, Independent