Warwick Smith Drops Highly Anticipated EP ‘Beyond The Sea’ – Exclusive First Listen
Newcastle’s rising pop punk star Warwick Smith is back with his brand-new EP, Beyond The Sea, and today, we’re thrilled to bring you an exclusive first listen before its official release tomorrow. Packed with five fresh, high-energy tracks, the EP showcases Warwick’s signature infectious melodies, driving guitar riffs, and emotionally charged lyrics that have made him a standout in Australia’s alternative scene.
Since his debut in 2022, Warwick Smith has been making waves with his dynamic blend of nostalgia-fueled pop punk and modern production, earning millions of streams on Spotify and landing major live slots alongside Glass Animals and Waterparks. His previous album, Velvet, even cracked the iTunes Alternative Top 5, cementing his place as one to watch.
To celebrate the launch of Beyond The Sea, Warwick is set to perform a free acoustic pop-up show at Hyde Park’s Archibald Fountain on April 5 at 3PM—giving fans a chance to experience his raw and heartfelt songwriting up close.
Check out our track-by-track breakdown from Warwick Smith himself below and dive into Beyond The Sea, the ultimate soundtrack for your next pop punk binge!
TRACK ONE – DREAMING CONSEQUENCES
This song came from a semi-recurring phenomenon due to the dreams I have when I’m asleep. I tend to dream about the people most prominent in my life at any given time and so every so often I’ll have, not even a nightmare, but a bad or uncomfortable dream about these people. Then it’s tough to go see these people because my mind just had a bad experience with them in the dream and even though it’s not real, I’m kind of mad or sour at these people for something they did in a dream. I think it’s actually kind of common to have this but I’ve never seen it discussed so it felt like a unique opportunity to make a punchy, kind of hazy-at-times, song about it.
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TRACK TWO – DOES HE KNOW??
‘DOES HE KNOW??’ really taps into almost a missed connection or lost love type of story but instead of the typical wholesome pining, it’s flipped to be a little more unrequited, reluctant and bothersome. I love to take a classic narrative trope and flip it so this is that. The song is more of an open letter to the current or future love interest that urges them to do some research and find out what kind of person they’re really getting involved with. A frustrated plea for others to open their eyes and see who’s right in front of them – hence asking “Does he know?” about the past between this person and I.
TRACK THREE – LITTLE RUNAWAY
Whenever I’m working on a project, I always reserve one tracklist slot for when I’m especially sick. This is the song that came from that because it always gives me kind of a fuzzy brain and a nasally, gritty tone to my voice. ‘Little Runaway’ naturally ended up sounding like a 2000s punk song and that was a lot of fun to go back to when it came time to start to mix everything. There’s a few special nods in this song to listeners who will understand what I’m saying, it’s a bit like a secret code hidden in plain sight so I’m super excited for that. This is also a bit of a tonal shift or reset for the EP, now the direction turns more explicitly into the narrative and alternative side of things.
TRACK FOUR – IN TIME
I’m really happy I got to include this song, it’s actually my mum’s favourite from the EP. It’s extremely heavy handed in the narrative of not only the EP but kind of a story I’ve been slowly unveiling for a while now. It’s a nostalgic energy but it’s also like being haunted by a ghost. There’s a lot of disorienting ambience, there’s untuned pianos used on it, some very obscure samples. This song is very conceptually important, almost a flash forward and backwards simultaneously, to expand on the themes. At its core, ‘in time’ is a fleeing sprint down memory lane – dismissing and trying to otherwise outrun a significant personal loss, only to always be haunted by it right behind you.
TRACK FIVE – HIDING IN THE MOON
Another track that links back to the overarching concept that shadows over multiple projects. As a closer, I think this was always the obvious choice. It’s a musical equivalent of being snapped back into reality. We’ve had this whimsical ride across the EP experiencing different memories and dream states and now we’re back in the real world. It’s a bit of an ‘Inception’ song I suppose. I always love getting to do something more pop-punk and I never get to close out a project with something heavier so this felt like the perfect time to completely subvert the expectation – which you can hear with that misleading softened intro. I wrote this song over an entire year and the first ever lyric was written on April 4th, 2024 so quite literally one year later and it’s out in the world. This song has an ending that is very open to interpretation for now but I’ll definitely be solidifying my intentions with it in the future. All I can say is this track is a hard end for this EP and the themes within it, so that’s why it has such a jarring and abrasive ending to it. Until then; if people get it, they get it.
WARWICK SMITH | UPCOMING SHOWS
April 5th – Hyde Park (3PM at The Archibald Fountain), Sydney, NSW
*Free acoustic pop-up show
