ALEYCE Simmonds is a woman who wears many hats, and it is those experiences that have helped shape a raw new album to be released at the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
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The Tamworth woman will release More Than Meets the Eye on Friday, January 20 and it will form part of a launch show on Friday, January 27.
More Than Meets The Eye will give fans a look into the emotions of the singer-songwriter and the journey which saw her move back home to Tamworth, where she also works as a live-in motel manager, in between a number of other jobs and her music.
“The new album is called More Than Meets The Eye and it’s very honest,’ Simmonds said.
“My music always has been, I guess I write from a very personal kind of place but Defeated (the lead single) is about domestic violence.
“I am the ambassador for the Tamworth Family Support Service so it was inspired by that and also just experiences that I’ve been in and I’ve seen other people in; they’ve been beaten down and just having to find that strength somehow to keep on going again.
“The lead single is about that but the full album is 13 songs that have come from my heart.”
The album is Simmonds’ third studio offering and she believes its more personal than her previous work.
“The album is quite a journey because to be honest I went from a place of darkness and I found someone who changed my life, I moved into the light, we went through the ups and downs of the relationship and spat out the other side when we broke up and into the darkness again – and finding my way back to Tamworth,” she said.
“I came home and was surrounded by family and friends here so that album kind of describes the happiness, the pain and the heartbreak and the happiness again so I’m really proud of it.
“It’s definitely more personal than my previous work, this has been a complete family project. I took a risk on a new producer, a 23-year-old in the Gold Coast, my sister’s husband Michael Cole played most of the instruments on the album, my sister sang backing vocals.”
While Simmonds’ official album launch is sold out, there’s the possibility of a second show.
“The official album launch is on January 27 here in Tamworth, it’s at my parent’s family barn,” she said.
“I thought I’ll have my album launch there, it did sell out but we’re in the process of organising a second show or opening that show up and making it bigger and moving it outside. It’s pretty exciting.Hopefully they’ll turn up knowing a word or two that’ll be awesome.”
