GODSPEED, the fourth studio album from punk-rock outfit These New South Whales, has arrived. This weekend, they celebrate in style with a record store tour calling in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The tour is bolstered by a string of live podcasts celebrating 500 episodes of What a Great Punk, which also marks the end of the podcast’s first season. LISTEN TO LP HERE.

Stylistically, GODSPEED is built on a backbone of new wave, melodic hardcore and Britpop. “The songs go on either side of that,” says guitarist Todd Andrews. “They can go heavier or lighter, but stylistically it’s the central point for us.” Thematically, the new album trades their usual modes of dread and anxiety for a newfound self-assurance, tackling familiar themes of personal autonomy, distrust of authority, and broken societal structures from a fighting stance.

Produced by Ben Greenberg (Depeche Mode, Drab Majesty, Show Me The Body), the follow-up to their ARIA and AIR Award-nominated LP TNSW is a gear switch. The heavier influences are pushed into darker or more aggressive territory – as on boot boy punk rager ‘PIG’, melancholic new wave, ego-death jam ‘R.I.P. ME’, and ’80s hardcore banger ‘BIRDBRAIN’. So too the lyrics. “They’ve switched into a more empowered state,” says singer Jamie Timony. “In some ways, it feels like the final chapter of a particular story. Now’s the time to step into your power.”

The direction of each track was steered somewhat by the in-studio presence of Greenberg, whose work with bands like Ceremony, Institute, The Chisel and Chat Pile – all noted TNSW influences – prompted different approaches to feel, tone and tracking. “The album would sound completely different if he hadn’t happened to be in Melbourne at the exact same time that we wanted to record,” says Timony. Meanwhile, their softer influences have opened out to generate some of the band’s most experimental material to date. ‘MISS HER’ lands somewhere between heartfelt indie and fuzzy punk, ‘ECSTASY’ has a baggy, Madchester-inspired groove, and piano ballad ‘NOBODY LISTENS’ packs the stark, emotional punch of the Gallagher brothers.

These New South Whales have the kind of raw energy that can berate authority and blow your haircut off in equal measure. With GODSPEED, the group firmly pushes back. As personal as it is politically charged and a damn good time, there’s defiance in the face of doubt, a refusal to be shaped by outside expectations. It’s not about surrendering to the chaos anymore – it’s about cutting through it. This time, TNSW have a clarity in the voice, a rejection of bullshit, a sense of recklessness and an insistence on trusting instinct over influence. The mission statement is laid out within the first thirty seconds, as vocalist Jamie Timony bellows, “The choice is yours / Godspeed.”

Building on the maturity of TNSW with connections to the raw determination of their debut, You Work For Us, GODSPEED is a refinement rather than a reinvention, fine-tuning their strengths while laying the brickwork for new paths to explore in the future. “It does feel like the first three albums combined,” says Timony. The breadth of that evolution is clearest on ‘BE WHO YOU WANNA BE’, sonically fresh and of the present with faint flickers of nostalgia to their early sound. While the group have evolved past the nipple tape into a serious post punk force, behind the curtain has always been a deeply considered code of ethics guiding their every step, never betraying their genre’s ethos and anti-establishment origins – each TNSW record features an anti-cop anthem, and that hasn’t changed on GODSPEED.

As a band in conversation with a continually shifting hellscape, whatever comes next is anyone’s guess, but the meaning of GODSPEED can be found in the here and now. Switched on and sick of it all, it’s a reminder that salvation has no blueprint. Trust yourself and see. It’s direct, galvanising and, above all, an irresistibly good time. TNSW in a nutshell.

Tonight, the group are in Brisbane to kick off their series of album release celebrations, including live podcast shows to mark What A Great Punk podcast’s end of Season 1, and in-store record signings and performances across the weekend, including Sydney and Melbourne. Collect your copy of GODSPEED at any of the events BELOW.