Boylan-Smith will launch '16 Miles Wide' on November 12, with a full-length album in the works for release sometime in 2022.

'16 Miles Wide' will be the first offering from a productive period of songwriting and recording for Boylan-Smith, who said the pandemic-affected world has provided "figurative space to make music."

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"'16 Miles Wide' is a literal take on mental health, which is something I feel a lot of people can relate to given the trying times we've faced over the past two years," he said.

"It goes pretty deep into uncomfortable subject matter, but it's important to address these topics creatively to ensure more people talk about it and realise their feelings are never their fault."

Boylan-Smith said the song examines mental health more specifically through the lens of addiction.

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"I remember talking to a good friend once who said that his depression felt a big black nothingness in front of him," he said.

"I was speaking to another dear friend that was suffering with addiction and detected a whole lot of guilt when he told me, so I sat down and wrote the song in a pretty short time period, with the main message in my head being that this truly wasn't his fault."

A music video for '16 Miles Wide' has also been filmed [by Ribbon Gang Media Agency], with The Foundations at Portland set to serve as the backdrop.

"It's a beautiful setting, and I actually wish I'd recorded the song there; the reverb is just stunning," Boylan-Smith said.

Now based in Mullumbimby, Boylan-Smith has been steadily working towards his new record, tentatively titled Somewhere in Soho, and he said plenty of the songs take inspiration from previous travels throughout Europe.

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"The pandemic gave me a lot of time to revisit a bunch of songs I'd started, but hadn't worked further on; for example, there's this rock song called 'Gloria' about a person I met in Salzburg while on tour in Germany," he said.

"I've also played most of the instruments on this album, and the aim was to truly expand the song beyond vocals and guitar; it's certainly the most ambitious thing I've ever attempted."

Boylan-Smith is set to perform in Bathurst at the Fish River Festival on December 12, and is planning to tour in 2022, with dates to be announced soon.

'16 Miles Wide will be released November 12 on all streaming platforms. For more information, visit www.mattboylansmith.com or his Facebook page.

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