Stephen Cummings' New Album Recorded In Aftermath Of A Stroke

Stephen Cummings has announced a new album, 100 Years From Now, to be released via Cheersquad Records & Tapes. While the release date still needs to be confirmed, Cummings and his band will preview songs from the album this Friday, 24 February, at the Merri Creek Tavern in Northcote. 

In March 2020, Cummings experienced a stroke that would change his life forever. 100 Years From Now is a product of the aftermath of a life-changing event and the enthusiastic support he received creating it from the Melbourne music community. 

The album was recorded and mixed with longtime collaborators guitarist and producer Robert Goodge (Essendon Airport and I'm Talking) and producer and engineer Simon Polinksi (Steve Kilbey, Ollie Olsen). 

"I was always a natural singer and assumed I could just sing as long as I wanted. After the stroke, I had a lot of rehab to learn to walk and recover fine motor skills on my left side," Cummings revealed in a press release. "I couldn’t really play guitar anymore. I did some vocal therapy and found my tone still good, but the control and breathing the hard part. I learnt I if I sang more slowly and more quietly it sounded better. I have to focus more and keep to different parameters."

Goodge added, "This record started off from both our boredom at being locked down and Stephen’s double frustration at having a stroke just as the restrictions started…he got the double lockdown whammy.

"I thought it might be good therapy for Stephen to do some songwriting and singing with no pressure, just a bit of friendly creative noodling, to aid in his recovery…perhaps he would share them with his Facebook friends… So I whipped up a few song sketches.

"Stephen had no trouble writing lyrics. They came as fast as I could supply the basic structure…Singing them, however, was more of a challenge, but that is what I expected, and we just kept trying… gaining ground little by little…So a couple of ideas soon became quite a few." 

Cummings concludes, "The album captures the state I was in during my recovery. The weather was always bad when I went on all my lockdown walks, and that is a feature of the album too.

“It’s got a different sound to what I normally do. It’s very dreamy with all the female harmonies and exotic string instruments Robert used, like the tiples.

“It’s one my favourite records I’ve made."

Stay tuned for the 100 Years From Now release date. For now, here's the album art to tide us over:

100 Years From Now album art