Geelong musician Stefan West’s latest single is both an acknowledgement of life’s challenges and an invitation to embrace the now.
Hard Times, released on Thursday, December 5, will be the sixth single West has released this year ahead of his upcoming 11-track album Just Another Sunflower, Searching for the Sun.
While West’s previous offerings have either displayed indie/punk influences or had a stripped back singer/songwriter feel, Hard Times leans heavily on rock ‘n’ roll riffs to create a feelgood anthem.
Featuring guitarist Aaron Schembri (Ross Wilson, Renee Geyer, the Wiggles), the song’s theme of living in the now is a reminder from West to himself as much as a message for anyone else.
“I often rush to the next thing without even realising it,” West said.
“But I feel like I’m getting more patient and really starting to understand now what it means to enjoy the process.”
That acceptance had a direct effect on the production of West’s current crop of songs.
“These were not intended to be full band songs; I had gone to Schembri and said, ‘I want to record an acoustic album’,” he said.
“I had the chord progressions and the lyrics down and I sent them to him and said, listen, go for your life. Whatever you hear, I love the way you play and harmonise, you send back whatever.
“I ended up getting these demos back with a lot on them; there might be two or three guitars, bass lines, harmonies. I realised very clearly the songs were written for a full band, I just didn’t really understand that when I was writing them.
“It was through collaboration and really intentionally letting my hands completely off the steering wheel… that they evolved into something far greater, I think, and much different to what I thought.”
Stefan West performs tonight (November 29) at Little Creatures, Sunday, December 1 at Leura Park Estate and Saturday, December 7 at 1915.
