After a watershed year in 2019, Melbourne rock favourites Slowly Slowly are kicking off 2020 with the announcement of their third album Race Car Blues. The follow up to their critically-acclaimed 2018 effort St. Leonards, Race Car Blues launches today with the reveal of the album’s title track and music video, before the release lands in full on Friday February 28.

The album captures a formative period for Slowly Slowly frontman Ben Stewart. Where St. Leonards found him reflecting on his entire life – harking back to painful moments and trying to rectify them – this album traverses through a crucial 18 months of self assessment and development. 

Though the track and record as a whole offer a space for Stewart’s pain and struggle to breathe, Race Car Blues ultimately  declares a new era of triumph.

“For me, Race Car Blues (album) feels like not being a victim anymore, in any sense of it, and really taking responsibility,” he says. “You realise as you get to your late 20s, no one’s going to fix you, no one gives a fuck, the world keeps turning and everyone’s on their own trajectories. If you’re not looking out for yourself, you’ll just get left behind or fall by the wayside, you’ll wake up and all of those dreams you had don’t get actualised.

“For me, it was about knuckling down and asking myself, “what’s important to me?”. If being a good, honest songwriter was important to me, I’m obviously going to be a lot better at that if I’m a happier person in myself, and confident. It was about creating an environment where I could do that.”