“These are the six songs that made the cut,” Alex the Astronaut shares about their EP Rage and All its Friends.
The Australian singer-songwriter explained that it’s about “processing a lot of the big emotions that are still out there for me, and not just putting them in the corner. I want people to hear these songs and laugh at themselves, or cry with their friends, or do what they need to do to process what’s happened to them. It’s life! Be in it!”
Also known as Alexandra Lynn, the writer faces up to heartbreak, frustration, burnout and disconnection in the follow-up to their second album How to Grow a Sunflower Underwater.
About the new EP, Alex explains, “[It] is a more fun name for a group of songs about grief. Last year, I was a cranky, sad mess. Everything seemed to be going wrong — my relationships, my career, my family. I didn’t know how to fix it, so I started writing.”
Alex recorded most of it in Sydney, drawing on the talents of friends and those they look up to, including Paul Kelly, Gordi, Lisa Mitchell, and Benjamin Francis Leftwich.
“‘Cold Pizza’ offers diary-like entries and imagery of eating a slice of pizza on the floor in its exploration of a breakup. “To get to write a song about pizza with Mr. Paul Kelly was my absolute childhood dream come true,” Alex shares.
Written during a WorldPride writing camp run by Troye Sivan (who scooped up multiple awards at this week’s 2024 ARIA Awards), “If You Have to Go” deeply affected Lynn’s camp mates during its conception. “Troye and my campmates welled up after I played it, so I guessed we were onto something.” Alex even recorded their first-ever guitar solo for it.
The Gordi-produced “Road Rage” helped Alex hold a mirror up to the anger they felt in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, while “Numb” explores burnout and disconnection.
The EP closes with “Actually the End,” a gentle and poignant reflection on breakups written with Benjamin Francis Leftwich.”It’s about those strange breakups where you have to remind yourself that it’s truly over,” Alex explains.
“Rage and All Its Friends are some of the best songs I’ve ever written, and I couldn’t have done it without a little help from my friends.”
Alex the Astronaut’s Rage and All Its Friends EP is out now via Minkowski Records.
