Listen To SJD's New Album 'Sweetheart'

"Just don't call me baby / I'm a full grown man and I'm crazy" asserts Sean James Donnelly aka SJD on '0209' the second tune from the multi-award winning artist's ninth album Sweetheart. Arising from a wave of inspiration which spurred Donnelly into action during the lockdown days of 2020, guest contributors on Sweetheart include such esteemed local figures as Don McGlashan (whose nationwide tour wraps up this week), Tami Neilson, James Milne (Lawrence Arabia), Anika Moa, Julia Deans, Deryk, EJ Barnes, Sandy Mill, Peau Halapua (The Black Quartet) and The Phoenix Foundation drummer Chris O’Connor. Already being praised as one of SJD's finest releases to date, Sweetheart can feel like a kaleidoscopic view of the Aotearoa songwriter / producer's multi-faceted output thus far, embracing everything from deeply felt soul-pop balladry to psych-tinted electronica, starry-eyed night grooves, rustic folk, cinematic post-rock arrangements and beyond...

“I felt the strong impetus to complete an album after the first lockdown in 2020... There was a surge of inspiration and energy and I wanted to capitalise on it - I didn’t expect to get quite as obsessive as I did!

It's about trying to break out of isolation and make contact with the very real people that surround you. About trying to be a good human and what that means in the weird fucked-up pseudo sci-fi world that we live in.

I see Sweetheart as a bit of a chocolate box of an album. Lots of bittersweet and crunchy exteriors with sweet fondant centers. It’s also to some extent ironic, because the making of it caused me quite a lot of grief and anxiety in trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to say and how to say it. I think it also obliquely refers to the muse, and the sometimes fraught, sometimes sweet but always very necessary relationship that you have with the muse when you’re in the midst of making an album.”

'Sweetheart' is out now on major streaming services — vinyl orders available HERE.