After a six-month rollout rooted in the revelation of Missing You/Something About Your Love, SG Lewis‘ sophomore studio album, AudioLust & HigherLove, breezes to digital streaming platforms with the lighthearted, confessional personality of the yacht rock genre and the verve of ’80s pop music—two influences ingrained in the LP’s DNA.
On his dichotomous, double-sided answer to his 2021 debut, times, Lewis launches into a study of love’s two major strains: “the darker, lusty, infatuated, short-lived, and ego-driven version” (AudioLust) and its “much deeper, actualized, and fulfilled” counterpart (HigherLove). Under this thematic umbrella, Lewis’ evolution as a singer-songwriter is the most evident that it’s ever been; amid a selective guest list of collaborators that translates to just three collaborations on the 16-track venture, Lewis emerges as the album’s main vocalist. His singing-songwriting presence on AudioLust & HigherLove is one of the most marked differences between this new LP and times, the latter of which was pivotal to Lewis’ growth in this area.
“When I started singing, I was basically just trying to imitate the voices that I thought would suit the track best. And that was really hard because I just felt like I didn’t know what my voice was, but the more music that I wrote, the more apparent it became what my vocal strengths were and what my weaknesses were. And I think that really helped inform how I approached writing vocal for the album,” Lewis told Dancing Astronaut in an interview that preceded times‘ February 19, 2021 release via Virgin EMI and PMR Records.
On AudioLust & HigherLove, all-consuming infatuation tangles with despondence, creating a comprehensive record of romantic feeling with just as much heat and heartache. The LP is out now via Astralwerks; stream it below.
Featured image: Lauretta Suter
