PREMIERE: Heartbeatz - 'Sweeping Up My Shadow'

British India bassist and songwriter William Drummond has officially stretched to new bounds as a solo artist, releasing his first song under the moniker Heartbeatz, Sweeping Up My Shadow.

Part Britpop, part woozy rock akin to Arctic Monkeys, the debut single from Drummond is a promising start from an already beloved songwriter.

Sweeping Up My Shadow – which The Music is premiering ahead of the single release tomorrow – is a song born out of catharsis.

Drummond didn’t realise that he was going solo with Heartbeatz at first; he was just writing after the loss of his mother to an aggressive form of cancer. Sweeping Up My Shadow is the first taste of the Melbourne artist’s upcoming debut album, Memory::Loss.

The new single and album were recorded and mixed with Drummond’s close friend, producer and musical director Michael Belsar (Hayden James, G-Flip) in a studio above a pub, lending to the song’s intimate yet compelling quality.

“[Sweeping Up My Shadow] was written in the wake of my mother dying from cancer and the communication between everyone in my band falling apart,” Drummond told The Music. “I would spend every day writing songs in an old warehouse that was both my bedroom and my studio. I was on the ground floor, and there were no windows.”

He continued, “Often it’s easy to fall into unhealthy cycles, whether it’s spiralling thoughts, alcohol dependency, etc., and when you are deep in the mires of grief, those cycles can become particularly vicious.”

He explained the Memory::Loss project further, “We recorded in a studio above The Empress Hotel in North Fitzroy. During our first session together, we instantly knew that we were a good creative match. He could see the vision I had for the album and brought his many varied talents to the project.

“I would often invite friends in, several of them who’d never been in a studio before, to add small little moments. In this track, you’ll hear my friend Charly Thorne singing ‘Start Again, Start Again’.”

You can listen to Sweeping Up My Shadow below.