Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Conrad Sewell, Sony Music Australia 2019.
Life is the debut album for young Australian singer/songwriter Conrad Sewell.
The album was written and recorded in Los Angeles over four years, so it had quite a long gestation period, and features Grammy nominated artists Jamie Hartman, Busbee, and Stuart Crichton.
Three singles from the album have already been released.
Changing was released on 5 September 2018 and peaked at 91 on the singles chart in Australia.
Love Me Anyway was released in February this year and received rave reviews from Hit FM claiming that it was a “Wedding song, proposal song, basically anything romantic because this song is a sure-fire love tune.”
The title song is the third single release and it is joined on the album by four other songs issued previously, one from his 2015 EP All I Know; Start Again, plus Healing Hands and Come Clean from his 2018 EP Ghosts & Heartaches.
This means that nearly half the album has already received air time.
Conrad says of the album: “This album pretty much sums up my life to date. A lot of the album was inspired by my battles with addiction, regrets I have as a result of those battles, and the people I’ve hurt along the way. These were hard truths that I’ve had to come to terms with.”
Most of the underlying messages in the songs are about change and redemption.
Songs like Come Clean, City of Angels, Big World and Changing present insights into Conrad’s hopes, dreams and regrets.
Jeff Jenkins from Stack Magazine said; “Conrad Sewell has certainly packed a lot of living into his 31 years, and it’s all here on his aptly titled debut album.”
Life is a confessional album and one that requires close examination rather than casual listening and pleasant background music to fully appreciate.
