Life Is Sweet, by The Lodger

Life Is Sweet

by The Lodger

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Super high quality virgin vinyl pressing in a heavyweight 60s style tip-on jacket. Beautiful!

Includes unlimited streaming of Life Is Sweet via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
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1.	My Finest Hour 02:50	buy track
2.	The Good Old Days 03:21	buy track
3.	Falling Down 03:34	buy track
4.	Honey 02:23	buy track
5.	The Conversation 03:49	buy track
6.	A Hero's Welcome 03:04	buy track
7.	A Year Since Last Summer 01:56	buy track
8.	An Unwelcome Guest 02:40	buy track
9.	Running Low 03:46	buy track
10.	Nothing Left (To Say) 03:00	buy track
11.	Famous Last Words 05:12	buy track

about

Since forming in 2004, The Lodger have thrilled informed pop lovers with their special brand of classic English guitar pop. Over a string of four singles and culminating in their brilliant debut album, Grown-Ups, the band has gone from strength to strength, developing a polished, literate sound that shows a keen interest in critical guitar pop touchstones like The Go-Betweens, Aztec Camera and Orange Juice but is still planted firmly in today.

Gathering up and re-recording a slew of their singles, Grown-Ups turned a lot of heads when released in June 2007. Garnering comparisons to heavyweights like The Housemartins, The Smiths and The Wedding Present, it displayed a band steeped in pop history, especially the classicist guitar pop so beloved of English bands. Band leader Ben Siddall's songs are elegant gems of melodic construction; catchy, sure, but also full of clever turns of phrase and rhythmic hooks that add depth and elevate them into the realm of the truly special. Tunes like "Let Her Go" and "Simply Left Behind" are destined to enter the canon of classic 3 minute pop right alongside The Lodger's heroes.

And now we are very proud to bring you Life Is Sweet, their brand new album. As great as Grown-Ups is, Life Is Sweet ups the ante even further. Conceived of as a "proper" album rather just a bunch of songs, Ben, bassist Joe Margetts and drummer Bruce Renshaw have created what could be one of the top albums of 2008, and certainly a great album in the long tradition of UK guitar pop. More textural and varied that its predecessor, Life Is Sweet is still filled with gorgeous melodies and some of the catchiest tunes you'll ever have stuck in your ear, but it also is deeper and more thoughtful, full of emotional peaks and valleys. Rather than just chip in with an album of "more of the same," the band has paid extra attention to the arrangements, with judicious use of 12- string and acoustic guitars, lap steel and violin adding crucial detail and depth to the tunes.

And what about the songs? These are easily the strongest batch of Lodger tunes yet. Opener "My Finest Hour" is an upbeat charmer that reminds one of The Pale Fountains, setting a wistful tone for the rest of the album. First single "The Good Old Days" is pure Sound of Young Scotland energy; with it's scratchy riff, driving drums, sing-along chorus and bouncing bass it's bound to fill dancefloors for years to come. "Honey" is a beautiful country-tinged lament, setting the table for "The Conversation," whose tough verses set the listener up for the chorus' surprising melodic burst. "A Year Since Last Summer" is pure strummy pleasure, a two minute tribute to the genius of The Housemartins.

And so it goes - superb tune after superb tune, each one distinct from the others but taken together building Life Is Sweet into an assured example of the pop songwriter's and band's craft. It's a true classic, a brilliantly written, produced and sequenced album that reveals new facets and produces new favorites with each listening.

credits

released May 27, 2008

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about

Slumberland Records Oakland, California

Slumberland began operations in 1989, inspired by such musical happenings as the UK post-punk indie label scene, lower east side noise bands and the DIY international pop underground. Since then we've covered a lot of territory, from punk to lofi noise to shoegaze and of course pop, releasing records from bands like The Aislers Set, Stereolab, Rocketship, Lorelei, The Ropers and Black Tambourine. ... more

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