| Monday, 29 October 2018 16:26 |
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Jamie Lenman is to release a live album this coming Friday (2 November).
‘Live at St Pancras’ was recorded at the intimate, invite-only show he performed at St Pancras Old Church on 27 October last year to celebrate the launch of his second album, ‘Devolver’. It will come as on a limited double white LP and CD (both featuring a mid-set Q&A), along with a DVD featuring the live show and a host of other extras, including a new track, ‘Two Thousand Trees’, written as a homage to the 2000trees Festival, and its booker/main man, James Scarlett.
Lenman says of the release:
“We wanted to find some way to reward the first people to support the album campaign by pre-ordering, and we thought the best way was to do a super intimate, invite-only show somewhere with some new songs, some old songs, and then a quick Q&A to make it different and a bit special. The thing I like about the show is that you can tell from the recording that I was nervous at first, playing totally new songs in that serene atmosphere, and then things gradually warm up and by the end we’re having a right old laugh, and I think that gives the record a unique shape that’s very truthful and interesting.
“On my favourite live albums, like the ones Johnny Cash did at Folsom and St Quentin for instance, my favourite bits are always the in between chats where the artists communicates directly with the audience, and I think that’s one of the main benefits of a live album over a studio album, you get that connection. I also love Steve Martin’s comedy albums and Rollins’ Think Tank, so even though the Q&A wasn’t structured or scripted it’s still reminiscent of these, almost like spoken word or standup in places.
“My personal highlights of the set are the acoustic ‘Mississippi’, which might be my favourite version of the track, and the definitive telling of ‘Sean Genockey and the Two Apples’ which is a story I now can’t tell at dinner parties or whatever anymore cos it’s on the record! I like the way that it’s the whole evening – it’s not just an album, it’s an evening – stick it on and hang out with me and a hundred buddies for 80 minutes. And as a special bonus, we went and recorded a new song, ‘Two Thousand Trees’, which I’d written for the festival this year, and stuck it on the end. It felt very much of a piece seeing as it’s an acoustic record, so I hope people appreciate that little treat.
“The DVD is a whole other beast – we knew we wanted to put the film of the concert onto it so you could watch it if you want but we had all this extra space so straight away we started looking at other things that could go on there. I asked my friend, journalist James Hickie, if he would do a short interview with me at the church on the night, in case we could use it for anything, and he really came up trumps, so that’s on there. Then there’s all the music videos we did for the entire campaign, all with audio commentaries on how they were made, extra footage of rehearsals, tonnes of stuff. We put together lots of bits especially for this set, including a whole new music video for ‘All Of England Is A City’ and some other exciting things, so it’s a lot of bang for your buck.”
“We also worked very hard on the packaging for the set, including over 100 photos of the evening as well as original hand written lyrics for some of the tracks. As a whole, the package serves as a sort of celebration and summary for the whole two years we spent working on ‘Devolver’, from recording to release to touring, and it’s a great way to round everything off before moving on to new ideas. It’s absolutely huge!!!“
‘Live At St Pancras’ can be ordered HERE.
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