Aussie star Peter Wilson vowed that his previous album ‘The Great Unknown’ would be his last, but fast-forward two years and he’s back with follow-up LP ‘Touch’.
In the years since, the dance-pop star has released two EPs of new material and he attributes his resurgence in creativity to reconnecting with his passion for music.
“I loved ‘The Great Unknown’, but I noticed that my songwriting involvement had become less and less because I just became disinterested – and probably lazy…” he tells RETROPOP’s June 2024 edition.
“I’ve got a love-hate relationship with music but there’s always something that brings me back to it,” he muses. “There’s always something that inspires me and then I find a love for it again.”
In the instance of ‘Touch’, it was a call from synth-pop star Panther Rex (whose song Goodbye My Love Peter covered on his last record) offering to work on new material. “So that called me back into it, then Larry Forsberg said he had some new demos for me and we started working from there,” says the singer.
The pair collaborated on six co-writes, including title song Touch (Too Much) and Cold As Ice, A Golden Age, When The Sun Begins To Fall, Forsake My Heart and Come On And Kiss Me. What’s now a 16-track record was originally going to be much shorter, but when songwriter Michael Jay – whose hits include Five Star’s The Slightest Touch and Martika’s Toy Soldiers – reached out to get involved, the plans changed.
“I had pretty much finished what I thought was going to be an eight- or nine-track album with Larry when Michael Jay contacted me and said, ‘I would love for your next album to be in my discography’,” he grins. “At first I didn’t know what he meant – like ‘Why is Michael Jay contacting me?’ – but he made it clear that he wanted to do some songs. I thought we’d just do a couple, but he sent me about 20 songs and I ended up picking seven of them, which I recorded with various producers and they turned out to be great tracks.”
It was another confidence boosting moment. “He’s incredibly passionate about music and he loves the ‘80s as much as I do,” adds Peter. “When I sent him the finished tracks, it was like a teenager getting excited about a new song after hearing it for the first time.
“So that really inspired me and to have someone on his level say to me, ‘I want to work with you’, was one of the best moments.”
It’s a collaboration he plans to explore further and although ‘Touch’ is Peter’s final release on Energise Recordings – his label for the past decade – he’s already looking to the future. “With what I do beyond ‘Touch’ I’m writing, I’m playing the synths and I’m programming, which is something I’m really enjoying,” he teases.
“Getting back into writing, like I did when I was a teenager and when I was in my 20s, is more of a focus for me now. And I very much want to go in a different direction with what I do next…”
