Andrew De Silva has the kind of energy that is contagious, and we’re about to hear it all over again with his new single ‘I See The Future’. Released on May 8th, Andrew is right back where he belongs – releasing new music, touring once again with his fellow CDB bandmates (Australia’s original ‘boy band’ from the 1990s), a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity supporting Mariah Carey on her 2013 Australian tour (“I just loved every minute of it), and in the studio producing the kind of track that insists you move to his new groove.

“’I See The Future’, for me, is kind of about escaping. Escaping where we are as a world at the moment and looking to the heavens and beyond the circumstances we’re in, looking to the future and focusing on the positives of life. I have always been fed on a diet of Michael Jackson and Earth, Wind and Fire and all of these dance floor classics really had a deep substance behind them. We all feel compelled to get up and dance, but there is still something deeper in the lyrics, like The Jacksons’ ‘Can You Feel It’. That’s what I wanted to do with this song; it’s got that funk and that feel about it, that classic sound, but there’s a deep spiritual part to it as well. When people hear this song I want them to wonder: ‘Who sings this?’ And I want people to dance – that’s what I was doing when I wrote it. I may have looked silly in the studio, but it’s infectious!”

For Andrew, “without sounding too cheesy”, he says his life has taken a ‘definite turn’. “I feel like my creative juices are flowing, and this makes me feel alive again. For a long time I was just happy to be doing lots of gigs, but I felt like I’d left something aside – and it was because I wasn’t creating! To be able to give a piece of me to the world, to write something and be producing again, it has filled that which I felt was missing. I feel complete.”

Andrew’s spirituality is very important to him, and his EP ‘Now That I Believe’ (released in 2014) alluded to that. But for Andrew, connections come in different guises. “My songs are a form of expression for me. I just want to share my light with the world and I think that can be done in many ways. ‘Now That I Believe’ highlighted how spirituality has helped me, the favours it has done my life. It is something I felt I needed to share with the world. I better understood why we all need to praise ‘something’. For some people it could be going to the football or going to a concert – but we all want to feel a connectedness to something uplifting.”

And speaking of roots, Andrew has described his recent performances with iconic Australian R ‘n’ B group CDB as akin to a high school reunion. “There’s such a great vibe in the audience; everybody sings along, people meet up after the show, and some even shed a tear. I explained to my kids (ages 7 and 13) that they were crying because they were reconnecting with something, the nostalgia. I love that music has the power to do that.”

With new recordings and shows with CDB to come later in the year, tapping back into the 90s has shown Andrew the joy it brings people who crave music from that era. “There’s something about the 90s; it has a specific musicality about it, the vibe is so distinct. In the 90s we spoke about romance, being in love, especially in the R’n’B scene. We weren’t afraid to sing songs about love - it was a cool thing to do! We just don’t hear that much of it anymore, but I hope it’s slowly coming back.” And while Andrew is ‘back’, he knows what all artists know: they never actually go away. “As artists, we never stop. We live and breathe this stuff. So I am really thankful to have this opportunity again. To release new music, especially as an Independent artist, and for it to be heard by the public is amazing. As a musician that’s what we want, to share our music - it’s that simple really.”

‘I See The Future’ is released on the May 8.