Wonderdust

Lizzie Flynn and The Runaway Trains – Samuel De Santi (guitar, mandolin), Gareth Mewes (Violin) and Benja King (Double Bass). For this recording, you will also hear the exquisite backing vocals arranged and sung by Lisa Brennan.

It’s my birthday and there’s a party going on here
Handholding but I’m, just holding onto my beer
I’m not trying to think too hard, I don’t want to think too much
‘bout the last time I saw you, and the way we…

While this album by Lizzie Flynn & The Runaway Trains, is her first with this combination of musicians, it is the fourth album that she has released overall, and a rich culmination of her experience as a songwriter and performer.

Lovers of acoustic music will appreciate how the musicians on this album have the talent to casually walk across the stepping stones of multiple genres such as Celtic folk, bluegrass, and beyond – with songs like title-track single Wonderdust, or the achingly good Possibility, being dubbed as upbeat radio-friendly folk-pop.

This is an album for listeners who love strong melodies with earnest lyrics, but it is also an album for musicians, for songwriters, and for those who appreciate the efforts of arrangements that can evoke emotions. The song Detours is a metaphor in dreamy arrangements, as the open-tuned guitar and narrator invite you to steer clear of the usual routes and follow the ‘dirtiest road with the best view’…

Lizzie Flynn (www.lizzieflynn.com ) who is the primary songwriter and vocalist, and The Runaway Trains, Samuel De Santi (guitar, mandolin) Gareth Mewes (Violin) and Benja King (Double Bass), have been performing together for a few years leading up to this recording.

And be sure not to miss the final track where The Runaway Trains feature on ‘Aurora to the South’, which was written especially for this album by Samuel De Santi and Gareth Mewes.

…Touch is like a drug, you’re my wonderdust
Inhale all your beauty, and the sky lights up

CREDITS

• All songs written by Lizzie Flynn except Shadows by Gordon Lightfoot and The Open Door by Darrell Scott.
• Arrangements by Lizzie Flynn
• Instrumentals, Leave With The Sun and Aurora to the South composed by Samuel De Santi and Gareth Mewes.
• Artwork: Maya Templer, www.mktempler.com
• CD Layout: Maya Templer & David De Santi
• Photography: David De Santi
• Recorded and engineered by Michael Fix, Parklands Studio, Calamvale, Queensland, Australia www.michaelfix.com
• Mastered by Sam Proctor, Lismore Mastering, Sheffield, UK www.samproctor.com

REVIEW

Wonderdust – Lizzie Flynn & The Runaway Trains
Review by Ian Dearden, February 2026

Without wanting to sound too parochial – this is a wonderful time to be living in Brisbane if you’re into roots and acoustic music. There is a wealth of talent in our overgrown country town capital – and a number of the current shining stars are showcased on this fabulous album.

Lizzie Flynn, the primary songwriter (the album also has covers of songs by Gordon Lightfoot and Darrell Scott) and voice of this album is front and centre with her sumptuous voice and delightful songs. Drawing on eternal themes including love and longing, dreaming and nostalgia, Lizzie’s vocals are beautifully framed by the members of The Runaway Trains. Gareth Mewes (violin) and Benja King (double bass) bring their deep background in jazz, while Sam De Santi (guitar and mandolin) contributes a folk/roots perspective. Meanwhile, Lisa Brennan’s backing vocals are thoughtfully sprinkled like magic stardust right across all of the songs.

Stand out tracks for me include the title track, ‘Wonderdust’, with its infectious mix of fiddle, Lizzie’s intimate and gorgeous vocals (superbly recorded and mixed upfront) and those delicious harmony vocals from Lisa, which blend perfectly with the lead vocal; “Two” with the delightful interplay of fiddle and mandolin weaving in and out of the vocal line; ‘Detours to Dusk’, with its longing for something better in life; and ‘Stop the Clocks’, which reminds us all how time shapes all that we feel in life.

With this extraordinary array of instrumental talent, it would be a shame not to hear what the boys in the band can do on their own – and they don’t miss the opportunity!! The coda to ‘New Memories’ (‘Leave With The Sun’), and the final album track, ‘Aurora to the South’ are both instrumentals composed by Sam De Santi and Gareth Mewes, and each tune gives the band the opportunity to stretch out and demonstrate the superb chops each of them bring to the party.

It would be remiss of me also not to mention how superbly Benja King holds down the bottom end on double bass – his playing throughout, on the songs and the instrumentals, is just sumptuous, delightful and restrained, providing the perfect pillow for the instrumentalists and vocals.
The album was recorded and mixed by Michael Fix, an extraordinary guitar player in his own right, but also (as this album clearly demonstrates), a fabulous engineer, at his Brisbane studio, Parklands, with mastering by Sam Proctor in Sheffield, UK.

The recording quality is exceptional and serves the songs, the singers and the instrumentalists superbly. You should not miss the opportunity to add this album to your collection.

To find out more, go to www.lizzieflynn.com.