From his upcoming album, Nomad, Roadworks is as relevant to those who’ve been stuck at a stop/slow sign as to those who know the feeling of enjoying life and then hitting complications that slow you down or delay your journey.

The young Wauchope singer-songwriter wrote the song with Matt Scullion on his first trip to Nashville in July 2015 after wanting to theme the album around roads. Angus brainstormed ideas for songs on a mind map, and the premise for Roadworks was born.

“Roadworks is an up-beat, lighthearted first single that I think everyone can relate to,” he said. 

“Just about everywhere you drive there are roadworks that delay your journey. It is also a metaphor for life because you’re cruising along and you hit the roadworks and slow down, speed up and guess what? You hit some more roadworks.”

Along with the message of the song, the music also speeds up and slows down just as roadworks do to a driver’s journey, so was recorded live in the studio with all players following each other.

“It was a challenging song to record, as the musicians couldn’t play to a click track because of the tempo changes, but that’s what made it all the more fun,” Angus said.

Getting in the theme of the song, Angus is often seen performing Roadworks dressed in high-visibility work wear and the occasional hard hat. The track also featured at this year’s Toyota Star Maker Grand Final where Angus performed in full high-vis outfit and it proved a Tamworth crowd favourite.

The singer-songwriter said he wanted listeners to take his music along for their roadtrips and gain an insight into his writing process as well.

“I would like listeners to see that you can always look for different perspectives in life and also in songs, it’s just about trying to dig deeper to find that unique angle,” he said. “I’ve taken on a theme that is extremely common in popular music and tried to put my original slant on it, and set myself the challenge of writing a whole album based around that concept. I really wanted to push myself as a writer and a co-writer.”

Angus also produced and mixed the album in his Wauchope-based production suite Hot Plate Studios. Roadworks features Stuie French on electric guitar, Camille Te Nahu and Matt Scullion on backing vocals Clayton Doley on Hammond B3 organ, Bill Risby on piano, Pete Denahy on fiddle, Ian Lees on bass and Brad Bergen on drums.

Returning to Tamworth in July this year, Angus shot the film clip for the single with 2 Lukes Films supported by local businesses Men At Work, Hilberts Hardware and Kazac Civil who assisted with props and, of course, the all-important high-vis work wear.

Roadworks is released on August 11 from the ultimate roadtrip album, Nomad, to be released on September 15, distributed by Checked Label Services.