Aussie rising star Dean Lewis has unveiled plans for a national tour ahead of his long-awaited debut album release next month for ‘A Place We Knew’.
His tour through the east coast, Adelaide and Perth comes hot off the heels of sold-out shows in the US. Lewis’ hit single ‘Be Alright’ earned the number six spot on Triple J’s Hottest 100 and has been taking over the charts worldwide.
For Lewis, the title A Place We Knew encapsulates the bittersweet memories of past relationships. “All the songs were written through relationships I’d been in and houses I used to live in and hotel rooms.”
On a plane he heard a phrase that struck him like a bolt of lightning, “An in-flight-radio DJ said, ‘I wish that was a place we’d known about’ I went to my notes and wrote ‘A Place We Knew’ and was like, that’s the album title. That ties everything together.”
Lewis sought out several producers to collaborate with on his new album. The British team behind ‘Waves’ and ‘Be Alright’, Edd Holloway and Nick Atkinson are ever-present and so too is Melbourne’s John Castle (‘Don’t Hold Me’ and ‘Chemicals’) and Dann Hume (‘Time to Go’ and title-track ‘A Place We Knew’). Sydney-based producer Dylan Nash, whom Lewis refers to as “almost like the co-producer for the whole album”, ties a thread between the 12 songs that were written and recorded all over the world giving A Place We Knew its cohesive sound.
From the uplifting ‘Hold Of Me’ and the celebratory ‘Stay Awake’, to his rawest and most vulnerable tracks ‘Don’t Hold Me’ and ‘Half A Man’, Dean’s debut album demonstrates a far greater breadth and depth to his songwriting than ever heard before.
In addition to writing every song on the album, Dean triumphantly plays piano, acoustic and electric guitar on A Place We Knew.
A Place We Knew will be hitting playlists around the world on Friday March 22 and he will return to Australia in May for his A Place We Knew National Tour.
The Forum, Melbourne – May 17. Tickets go on sale Monday 10am February 25 via www.frontiertouring.com/deanlewis
