Ziggy Alberts - Laps Around The Sun (2018) Hi Res

Fans of Australia's Ziggy Alberts will certainly recognize the sound of his upcoming fifth studio album, Laps Around the Sun. But Alberts tried a few different things on the 10-song set, premiering exclusively below, which he hopes they'll notice.

"This is the first time I looked at a whole catalog of songs and picked ones I felt told a story," Alberts tells Billboard. "I didn't want to limit myself to folk music. This album draws on different genres; It's primarily singer-songwriter, but I pushed my songwriting so hard." And while Alberts' acoustic guitar is still the main focus on Laps Around the Sun, which comes out Nov. 9, he also brought piano into the mix for tracks such as "Best Friend" and "3 Degrees South," and banjo on "Worn Out" and "Yu (a Song for Koda)." "I wanted to do what suited the song, what was right for the songs," Alberts says. "It felt like the same way as when you're recording with your guitar as your main instrument for the first time, that same feeling of, 'This isn't my best craft or my best work, but I'm giving it a real swing...'"