Artist: The Leisure Society
Title: The Sleeper
Label: Willkommen
Genre: Indie
Bitrate: 164kbit av.
Time: 00:38:55
Size: 48.21 mb
Rip Date: 2009-02-06
Str Date: 2009-03-23
1. Give Yourself A Fighting Chance 3:32
2. The Sleeper 3:50
3. The Last Of The Melting Snow 3:33
4. A Short Weekend Begins With Longing 3:17
5. We Were Wasted 2:55
6. Save It For Someone Who Cares 4:01
7. The Darkest Place I Know 3:49
8. Are We Happy? 2:54
9. Come To Your Senses 2:31
10. A Matter Of Time 6:02
11. Love's Enormous Wings 2:31
Release Notes:
As winter reaches its peak, the Leisure Society have provided
an early, yet evocative reminder of the forthcoming spring
with their debut single, the haunting 'The Last of the Melting
Snow'.
The group is centred around songwriter and guitarist Nick
Hemming, and singer and multi-instrumentalist Christian Hardy.
Hemming is a former guitarist with Creation label band the
Telescopes, and has also written music for the Shane Meadows'
films, 'A Room for Romeo Brassπ'and Dead Man's Shoes'. Hardy,
who like Hemming is originally from Burton Upon Trent but now
London-based, fronts as well his own project, Christian Silva.
The Leisure Society's debut album, 'The Sleeper', is out in
March, and 'The Last of the Melting Snow', which was recently
made ╡Record of the Week' on Mark Radcliffe and Stuart
Maconie's Radio 2 show, is a first taster from it.
The Leisure Society ooze charm. Anyone that happened upon
Northampton Square in Islington last Sunday for our
sister-site Bandstand Busking's latest recording will have
been utterly won over by this very English answer to
Department of Eagles: a clean, nostalgic folk sound
underpinned by unmistakably Ray Davies-like wry and whimsical
songwriting. Numbering eight, their roots lie in
Burton-Upon-Trent from where songwriter Nick Hemming decamped
to work with fellow Burtonite Christian Hardy (Christian
Silva) in London and one-by-one the pair coaxed members of
Brighton's Wilkommen Collective (Sons Of Noel and Adrian,
Shoreline etc) until The Leisure Society was born.
Hemming's musical roots go back further into the West Midlands
however, beginning with early 90's indie band She Talks To
Angels and Unisex, an extension of late eighties space rockers
The Telescopes. The former are certainly better known for what
they did next with actor Paddy Considine and
director/screenwriter Shane Meadows making up Hemming's first
bandmates. Indeed he has written and performed music for two
of Meadow's films - A Room for Romeo Brass and Dead Man's
Shoes. Over a decade on The Leisure Society is naturally a far
more mature project but also a far more serious prospect.
'The Last Of The Melting Snow' - the band's debut single
released just before Christmas - made sure of that. A gentle,
glistening and beautiful song, it is in fact quite perfect
songwriting. Think otherwise and there might just be something
missing left of centre beneath your chest. It sets March's
full release The Sleeper up nicely for a band who just scream
quiet, word of mouth success over the coming months and
hopefully years.
The second track, 'A Short Weekend Begins with Longing', is
more upbeat in sound, merging Hemming's choppy acoustic folk
guitar with swirls of violin. It too implies the ending of a
relationship ('Fine for a while/we were happy until it died'),
yet also looks out beyond darkness with cautious optimism
towards the future. ('Winding my way through the plans I never
made/ don't step aside/I was hoping that you might help
me/Save me again from this dreadful feeling.')
File next to: Department of Eagles, Sons Of Noel and Adrian,
Divine Comedy.