Twenty years ago,
Alex McEwan released his debut album
‘Beautiful Lies’, landed an airplay hit with the
Radio 2 playlisted
‘Make A Wave’ and toured the
UK as guest to
Katie Melua. It’s only now, however, that a second chapter is opening up in his career as the
September 28th release of his second album
‘In A World We Don’t Know’ approaches. It’s more than fitting, then, that his brand new single ‘
This Feeling Again’ celebrates the joy of unexpected second chances in life, as well as triumphing over adversity. Those are regular themes in
Alex’s remarkable story… but we’ll return to that in a moment. Listen
HERE. Watch the lyric video
HERE.
‘This Feeling Again’ puts a bright modern pop twist on Alex’s emotionally charged singer-songwriter style, its addictive hook neatly summarising the challenges that he has overcome: “So here I am facing everything that I’ve been running from / So here I am in front of everything that I gave up on.” Alex wrote the song with Johan Ramström and Patrick Magnusson, and produced it alongside Austen Moorhead. It was completed with additional production from David Kershenbaum (Tracy Chapman) and mixing courtesy of Ash Howes (Jack Savoretti) plus piano from ‘Strictly’ musical director David Arch.
Alex says, “I wrote ‘This Feeling Again’ at a really hopeful time in my life when I had just met my future wife. It’s about being given a second chance after going through some tough times.”
The song takes on a greater emotional heft within the context of Alex’s journey. His first foray in music came at a relatively late stage in life. He had spent some of his twenties working as a supply teacher in some of the toughest schools in London but his life spiralled downhill as he sunk into depression following the death of both his mother and grandmother in quick succession. He resorted to busking around London to make a basic living, supplemented at a particularly low point by selling The Big Issue. During this time, he witnessed first hand the many scenarios that led to his acquaintances living rough – often due to some combination of mental health issues, addiction, the lack of a support network and sheer bad luck. While many passers-by were supportive, he also remembered how many people could be hostile or even violent to those who had already fallen to the fringes of society.
The more Alex busked, the stronger his talents became. Eventually he was able to travel throughout Europe, mixing busking and bar gigs as he travelled across the continent, his guitar usually being his only companion. After getting his life back on track and performing in Nashville and Los Angeles too, a bigger opportunity arose when he was approached by a stranger after a gig at the 12 Bar Club, who was in the process of setting up a new independent label that had a distribution deal with Universal. Alex was definitely interested, but wise enough to know that nothing is set in stone until a deal is signed.
So it wasn’t long until he was back busking on the Circle Line. As the train approached High Street Kensington station, Alexwas approached by Puff Daddy’s personal assistant. He was sufficiently impressed to invite Alex to perform at a showcase that team P-Diddy were holding at Kensington Roof Gardens, and Alex arrived ahead of his set to find the venue packed with industry big hitters. Suddenly there was a buzz around this previously unknown Scottish singer-songwriter, and the man he had met at the 12 Bar Club moved quickly to complete a deal that would change shape the next few years of Alex’s life.
Life had other plans after Alex’s first rush of success. He instead returned to a regular life, initially by returning to his work as a supply teacher, his voyage into music a distant memory, an unlikely story to share on rare occasions. In the years that followed, he always saved some money whenever he could to have something to fall back on, just in case circumstances took him back to where he was in his late twenties. The feeling that he could’ve done more in music lurked at the bottom of his mind, but that was all in the past. And then…
Alex and his wife were in a late night bar on holiday. An open mic night was in full swing, and she convinced him to step up to play a song. A roar of enthusiasm greeted his performance which reminded Alex of being on stage at Hammersmith Apollo all those years ago. It was a nice moment, but it was just a boozy open mic night. But the next day he was repeatedly stopped by strangers who wanted to tell him how much they enjoyed his performance. It was the first step that inspired Alex to start writing songs again – and once he did, he realised that those songs were better than those he had written for his debut. Using the money he had saved, he started releasing new music in 2022 and the reaction was strong enough – including a Record of the Week at BBC Scotland – to convince him to commit to releasing an album. And so album number two, ‘In A World We Don’t Know’, is now on the way – almost twenty years to the date since his first record was released. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
