Michael Antony Austin
Born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) and now based in Germany, Austin has built an extensive musical career with hundreds of live performances worldwide. Alongside a busy touring schedule, he continues to perform and develop his original music, while his Spotify audience has grown significantly over the past year. An eclectic singer-songwriter whose music moves between pop, rock, folk and roots, Austin has neverbeen easily defined by one genre. The four playful songs on FOURPLAY were created over a period of two years and see him reconnecting with another important part of his musical DNA: his lifelong love of AOR, slick 80s Pop and (as he puts it ‘the horribly named’) Yacht Rock. Artists like Phil Collins, Tears For Fears, Duran Duran, A-ha and Simple Minds provided part of the musical inspiration behind the project: music he grew up with and is still very much inspired by. CLOSER offers the first taste of FOURPLAY, but it is also the song that started the whole project. “About two years ago an old music colleague / pianist friend of mine named Klaus Tenner (from my old Jazz band Monsieur Klaas), came to me with a musical idea that would form the basis of what would become the song CLOSER,” says Austin. “Taking his country-tinged chord structure as a starting point, I wrote a new song around that framework.” Around this time Austin also met keyboard player Mario Bialowons, who proved to be the ideal person,to help bring his ideas for the EP to life. “For all four songs the lyrics were set and the melodies were clear,” says Austin. “I knew what I could hear in my head, and what sound / dynamic I was after. With Mario’s help I rearranged and shaped those sketches into what I believe is something special.” To create the exact sound he needed, Austin returned to two of the musicians who also played on hisprevious album It’s Not The Years, It’s The Mileage: Scottish drummer/producer Gordon McNeil (The Supernaturals, GUN, Glasvegas) and guitarist Derek Fleming (Ian Donaldson H2O, Altered Images, James Grant). CLOSER also features bassist Ed Poole (Let Loose, Romeo’s Daughter, Bonnie Tyler). Austin recorded his lead vocals with longtime collaborator Andy Brings (Double Crush Syndrome, Sodom, The Traceelords), bringing the pair full circle almost twenty years after they first started working together in. CLOSER offers the first taste of FOURPLAY. The complete EP will contain four tracks: CLOSER, WALKING, INVISIBLE and LOOKING. The second single, WALKING, will be released together with the complete FOURPLAY EP on October 19th, 2026.
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