What more can be said about this young and very talented Australian songwriter who has produced two of the most critically lauded albums of the last five years . Releasing the hauntingly beautiful ‘Black The Sun’ EP in 1997 was just the beginning of a roller coaster ride to popularity. With many questions being asked about the talents of Mr Lloyd (at the time), Alex followed through with a variety of hit singles leading up to the release of his hugely successful debut LP, (also titled ‘Black The Sun’) and released through EMI Records in 1999. Scooping the #1 position on radio TRIPLE J’s listeners Top Ten albums of 1999 (& voted by the listeners over such luminaries as Red Hot Chili Peppers, silverchair, Moby & other big names), this was the just the beginning of a number of accolades Alex has managed to score – including twice named ARIA AWARD for most popular male artists and recently, the APRA Award for most performed song, being the huge hit, ‘Amazing’

Alex’s break though album ‘Watching Angels Mend (featuring the track ‘Amazing’) saw him achieve major success both within Australia and internationally. Now having sold well over 200,000 copies (infact 3 x platinum), it was one of the most successful local releases of 2002. Accompanied by a massive sold out National tour, Alex Lloyd cemented his status as one of Australia’s most talented and prominent songwriters.

Alex has just completed the writing and recording of his new (& third) stunning album appropriately titled “Distant Light”. Preceded by an the tempo new single, ‘Coming Home’ – being one of Alex’s most catchy songs to date. ‘Distant Light’ was an extraordinary album and the last for his label home of discovery, EMI Records

ALEX LLOYD “ALEX LLOYD” BIOGRAPHY

Alex Lloyd is, quite simply, one of the finest and most popular singer-songwriters Australia has produced. His musical career can be traced all the way back to his teen years when, as a 13 year old upstart, he started playing in pubs with his first band, the blues based The Beefs. After a stint in ragged Sydney indie rockers, Mother Hubbard, Lloyd went solo in 1997 and has since had a remarkable career that has garnered critical and public acclaim in Australia and overseas. His three solo albums – 1999's Black The Sun , 2001's Watching Angels Mend and 2003's Distant Light - have collectively sold more than 500 000 copies and following the release of each album he has been awarded an ARIA for Best Male Artist (2000, 2001, 2003). 2000 also saw him win an ARIA for Best New Talent. But Lloyd is more than an accomplished album artist with a penchant for experimentation and an intuitive gift for melody: his now iconic 2001 single, “Amazing” was not only voted Song of the Year in the prestigious, listener voted Triple J Hottest 100 poll in 2001 - it also secured an APRA Award (the songwriters awards) in 2002 for Song of the Year and was also the most played song on Australian radio that same year.

Given such heady success it's surprising to hear – to the outsider, at least - that the past two years have been the most emotionally turbulent of Lloyd's life. But it's this period - during which time his record deal was up for renewal, he was about to become a father for the first time and his relationship with manager and best friend was falling apart - that Lloyd lays bare on his latest album, simply titled ALEX LLOYD. A break-up album of sorts, ALEX LLOYD explores the changes in the singer's life that began just prior to the recording of his platinum-selling third album, Distant Light .

“I was living a very rock n roll lifestyle at the time”, recalls Lloyd. “In every sense of the word. Then I changed my life very dramatically. I got married and I was about to have a son. So at that time I didn't feel like a rock star… I didn't want to be a rock star. I just wanted to be home and drill holes and do things domestically. But at the same time there was the pressure of becoming a father, wanting to provide for my family and worrying about the future. I was thinking of giving up music at that point. I thought I'd just give it all away”.

In the ensuing period Lloyd retreated into family life and loved it. “I became really comfortable with being a father and I found myself in my bedroom writing songs for the first time since my first album, Black The Sun . And it felt like a new beginning, which is why this album is self-titled. Cause in the beginning I didn't have a record company, I didn't have anyone with any expectations. I just had myself to judge my own music and I was actually enjoying myself again. It wasn't all the bullshit and madness of Watching Angels Mend and Distant Light . It was just simply making music again”.

Lloyd's decision to record ALEX LLOYD at Seattle's London Bridge Studio's was two-fold: he wanted to take himself and his songs out of their comfort zone, and his producer, Rick Parashar (of Pearl Jam's Ten and Alice In Chain's Dirt fame) lives there. At first glance, the pairing with Parashar seems unlikely; after all, Lloyd's music is the antithesis of the dirge and bluster of grunge. But when you strip an album like Dirt back to its basics, what you find are songs full of raw emotion and inventive arrangements. And that sounds like Alex Lloyd.

Parashar was classically trained in India, and for Lloyd, the perspective that brought was important. “This is a new beginning for me and I was after something different and Rick offered me that. I co-produced all my previous albums but this time I wanted to work with people who had a fresh approach to the whole Alex Lloyd thing. And that's what I achieved. The musicians who played on this album weren't just hired hands, they put their hearts and souls into the songs.” Lloyd's studio band for the album included famed string arranger David Campbell (Beck, Michael Jackson, Macy Gray), “the best bass player I've worked with” Curt Schneider (Five For Fighting), guitarist Eric Shermerhorn (Iggy Pop, Seal) and drummer Brian MacLeod (Sheryl Crow, Pink).

Without a doubt, the songs on ALEX LLOYD are the most emotionally resonant and musically assured of Lloyd's career, furthering his status as a songwriter continually willing to expand his musical boundaries. Where Black The Sun was defined by its electro, hip-hop textures, Watching Angels Mend by its English pop sensibility and Distant Light by its live, indie feel, ALEX LLOYD is a record where moments of sublime pop beauty and delicate melancholia are bolstered by sweeping melodies, affecting harmonies and a sure sense of structure. But above all, ALEX LLOYD is an album defined by its diverse guitar textures, lending it an understated but confident rock feel that's organic and undeniably atmospheric.

Album tracks like first single “Never Meant To Fail”, the epic, string laden “Sometimes” and opening cut “Brand New Day” arguably rate among the best songs Lloyd has ever written, yet it's testament to the cohesive strength of ALEX LLOYD that these songs shine not as beacons but as cornerstones for an album whose strength lies in the sheer quality of its songwriting, the musicality of its performances, the confidence of its arrangements and the unmistakeable voice of Alex Lloyd.

It is an album of which Lloyd is justifiably proud. But he's not a critic, so he's not going to say it's the best thing he's ever done. What he will say is “I think it's a great record and my expectations have been met.   I'm not gonna say it's better than anything I've done before cause that's just one persons point of view, but I will say I'm very happy with it and I feel like I've come leaps and bounds with it to a new beginning. And I'm happy with that”.

ALEX LLOYD – The new self titled album is out now thru Sony BMG.

Tourdates