Kevin Bronson on May 28th, 2019

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During his decade-plus tenure in Los Angeles, Andy Clockwise has been a lot of things: provocateur, raconteur, singer-songwriter-producer and, notably, chronicler of the human condition as it applies to, or is magnified by, life in his adopted home base. You know, the land of noble dreams and ignoble heartbreak.

Clockwise has released two albums and two EPs, and since his music has been released under the names Andy Clockwise, Clockwise and Local Hero, it takes some work to find it all. “The Socialite” came out in 2011; the “Dancing World” EP (misfiled on Spotify) was released in 2014; and “The Good Book” EP emerged in 2017, the latter featuring the wryly funny collaboration with Warpaint’s Stella Mogzawa, “Open Relationship.” He has called music “schizo pop” and “warrior pop,” and in his live gigs, the nattily attired Clockwise plays Frontman Most Determined to Get Indie Crowds to Take Their Hands Out of Their Pockets. It often works.

His forthcoming album is titled “War Stories” — and since that was the working title of his album almost seven years ago, you can infer that he has some — and it’s relatable to anybody who’s lived, loved and lost. The new single “This Town (Used to Be Great)” is a wistful look over his shoulder at his native Sydney as Clockwise sounds like Springsteen fronting a New Wave band, heartbreak in his rear-view mirror and the likelihood of more on the road ahead. (Angelenos can substitute the song’s reference to “Taylor Square” with their favorite fallen L.A. district for maximum impact.)

The new single follows the release of the album’s epic title track, which spans 7 1/2 synth-spiked minutes of hope.

“‘War Stories’ is about the wars we put each other through … a pop musical ode to human dysfunction, heartache, sex, grief, revolution and the death of our youth,” Clockwise says of the album, which was made in L.A., London and Australia during a time “my mum was ill and I was traveling back and forth to look after her and getting back to what I actually enjoy about music, which is folk, classic post-punk, pop, my Irish trad music and early electronic house. I gave it a name, “warrior pop.” Something to stop you from thinking everything is awful. It sounds all right, too.”

||| Stream: “This Town (Used to Be Great)”

||| Also: Watch the video for “War Stories”

||| Live: Andy Clockwise winds up his Hotel Electric residency at the Hotel Café tonight, joined by Deaf Mute, Veronica Bianqui, Club Oro, Guy Blakeslee and Stella Mogzawa (DJ set).

||| Previously: “The Good Book,” “Open Relationship,” “Dancing World”