By early 2020, Ashton Nyte had just put the finishing touches on his seventh solo album as the world started shutting down. Maneuvering around an uncertain year with no tours in sight, The Awakening frontman released Waiting For A Voice and his first book of poetry and short stories of the same name, then retreated back into writing, creating—for his own sanity.
“In all honesty, I’ve needed to stay sane,” Nyte shares with American Songwriter. “Without touring or even regular human interaction, the best thing for me to do is to keep creating before I legitimately revert to that crazy soul with a houseful of cats and unruly coffee addiction. I also needed a good reason to try to get a decent haircut. I was scaring the cats.”
Exploring archived songs, fragments of stories, and odder compositions stowed away throughout a more than 25-year career with his musical project The Awakening and his solo work, Nyte salvaged pieces that would help him begin assembling something entirely new on This Alchemy (Intervention Arts), The Awakening’s 10th album, out May 18.
Following up The Awakening’s 2018 album Chasm, This Alchemy’s 11 songs, all written by Nyte, are a result of his determination to create a piece of work that was the “polar opposite” to any previous labors of love.
Tina Eves 