Galway-bred London-based band The Clockworks have announced their debut album EXIT STRATEGY and released the lead single Westway.

"Westway is an evocative ballad with an immersive theatrical, dramatic sweep that is statuesque and bold. It is delivered with a croon and a swagger that would be comfortable in a red velvet lounge bar in the early hours after a night of bacchanalian excess." - Backseat Mafia

The Clockworks recorded Westway and much of the album at Abbey Road with Grammy-winning producer Bernard Butler before mastering with engineer Christian Wright.

Following a string of single releases with acclaim from the likes of Annie Mac, Iggy Pop, Steve Lamacq and Simon Le Bon, a US tour with Pixies and last year’s hugely successful UK & Europe headline tour, The Clockworks open their album campaign with the record’s final track, Westway.

Speaking on the track, and the decision to release the album’s final song first, singer James McGregor says:

“Westway is the final track on the album and completes that story. We were inspired by the writing and production of ‘50s Doo-wop, Phil Spector and Motown. Westway is the album’s final track, so we are beginning the album’s story with the last scene in the same way that some of the great films, like Goodfellas, begin at the end.

We wanted the album to end on a nostalgic note and this also feels like the perfect opening note for us. We recorded Westway in Abbey Road’s Studio Three and it was the last track we recorded. We began the album and ended the album in Studio Three, which made it feel special. And the last line of Westway was the last lyric written for this album.”

Westway was recorded with Bernard Butler producing and engineering and our own Tom Ashpitel as assistant engineer.

EXIT STRATEGY centres around a protagonist who moves from Galway to London in search of meaning, certain that as the main character in the film of his own life, the solution lies in changing his surroundings and acting as someone he’s not. The album promises encounters with manipulative bosses, evil ad agencies, a broken pact to flee to Australia, run-ins with the law, cheating boyfriends, drug fuelled youths, heartache, paranoia, social media anxiety and a drunk singer dressed as Jesus.

Explaining the album’s genesis and cinematic influence, James McGregor says: “We were always sure we wanted the album to be greater than the sum of its parts, so decided to create the world of a film, entitled Exit Strategy. We envisaged the record as a series of snapshots, telling the story of a group of characters trying to navigate through life.”

EXIT STRATEGY will be released on 10 November and is available for pre-order HERE.

Music Radar went behind the scenes in Studio Three with The Clockworks and Bernard Butler as they documented a day of recording with the band. Read it now.