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Lonesome
October 29, 2021|FEATURES

“To be honest, we never sat down and said “you know what, let’s just write post-rock music now”” – Introducing Lonesome

Lonesome are a band creating something truly special. Every single note that seems to ring out both on the record and in a live setting brings with it an overwhelming influx of emotion.

Be it guitar, synth or a haunting vocal line, the post-rock sextet have gone above and beyond in every sense of the phrase. If you’re an old fan who’s holding on for dear life waiting for new music then we admire your patience tenfold. If you’re a sonic connoisseur in search of the latest best flavour, then you need to ask yourself why you haven’t stopped here before.

Since the project’s inception the band have released a stunning debut EP titled To Myself, From Myself and it’s no secret that there is a whole arsenal of music still in the pipeline. Lonesome concluded their final days as a five piece on their September weekender with Cardiff lads Defeatist before indoctrinating new faces, and the opening date of the run also coincided with the Dreambound premier of their latest single ‘Inure’. A slightly more melancholy tone to its predecessor, the heavier hooks threaded through ‘To Myself, From Myself’ are replaced by a delicate touch. It’s an ambient masterpiece with uplifting emotional highs, and the fact that this is a collective of musicians that are entirely comfortable with each other’s working practice shines out in every minute of its playthrough. If ‘Inure’ has a negative, it’s the fact that it isn’t long enough. The fusion of each individual element  nurtures a specific part of the bands own unique identity – and it’s important to stress that lonesome are truly unique in every right.

We sat down with the band to take a deep dive into their career so far, plans for where they’re heading and the process of creating ‘Inure’.

How have you guys found the reception of ‘Inure’ compared to the full EP you guys dropped in 2019?

“The reception to ‘Inure’ has been great, it’s been nice to see people excited that we have a new release after becoming fans during the release of To Myself, From Myself; equally it’s been great to engage with new fans, from the release of ‘Inure’. It’s quite a difficult thing to measure the success of a release campaign, when you are comparing a single and an EP/full length as both are entirely different beasts. On the one hand, a single is a great way of dropping music; it allows fans or potential new fans the ability to get a snapshot of what Lonesome is all about; without having to listen to a whole full length and skip through tracks that maybe don’t appeal to them as much. On the other hand, an album allows Lonesome to showcase our niche; writing one piece of music and splitting them into tracks.”

“So, it’s a very difficult thing to say “this release campaign was better than this release campaign” because an album or single can appeal more to different listeners. We were humbled by the response to both ‘Inure’ and To Myself, From Myself that is for sure.”

Talk us through a track with Lonesome. Can you give us a picture of how long it would take to turn a whole load of layers into a fully fledged single ready for release?

“In terms of ‘Inure, this was a very difficult track to start. We seem to always find it hard to get started but once we get going, we are usually in a flow. For this track in particular we took one of our old songs (‘So Tell Me’) from when we were in a different band called That Night Forests Grew. We used the intro section of this track, tweaking the instrumentation, completely changing the vocals and revamping all layers around the main guitar riff (which we moved onto a Rhodes piano). “

“After getting this section down it was plain sailing from there. Most of the extra layers come after the main backline (drums, bass, guitars) has been written and recorded as a demo, Paddy and Will then sit down and figure out any extra guitar parts, piano/keys, synth and foley parts that may need adding to the track.”

“Since writing ‘Inure’ we have found a much more streamlined way of writing which came into fruition during lockdown. We now write remotely but together in Skype, sounds simple but there’s a lot of complicated bits that go into making this work!”

Is Inure intended to bridge the gap between your last record and your next release? Or would you consider it more a stand alone release?

“‘Inure’ is 100% intended to be a bridge between To Myself, From Myself and a new record which we have about 95% written.”

“To Myself, From Myself and ‘Inure’ are the first two parts in a trilogy of releases that create one long track when played together back to back. There’s some really cool themes and concepts embedded in the trilogy to do with chronology and the overall message of the music. We don’t want to give away too much yet though…”

Your music covers a pretty extensive canvas, what were your original thoughts for moving away from the heavier tones of previous projects and taking on a more expansive outlook?

“To be honest, we never sat down and said, “you know what, let’s just write Post-Rock music now”. It was a completely organic transition, it’s nice to know it wasn’t forced. We aim to write music that we like and if other people like what we do that is an added bonus. As an artist being true to yourself is the most important thing when trying to create the best art you possibly can. You can tell when art is being created for the sake of being popular and appealing to a bigger audience. We all know what it is like to see our favourite artists move in this direction, it’s quite a sad thing.”

What’s the plan from here? Where do you envisage yourselves in five years from now?

“We are currently putting the finishing touches to a new release that we start tracking in November with our good friend Bob Cooper at The Chairworks in Leeds. We’ve just started playing the tracks live at practice and they are sounding huge. We are so excited to get stuck into producing this body of work. In five years time, that’s a difficult one, we would hope to have a few full lengths out by then, be touring as much as possible (if it is with some of our favourite bands that would be a bonus) and make this more of a full-time deal.”

You’ve just played a stacked hometown show, are there any other touring plans you can mention at this stage?

“The hometown show was fantastic, such a great atmosphere and lineup. Every band smashed it and the crowd were on point.”

“In terms of touring plans we have a load of things in the pipeline but nothing we can announce as of yet.”

You’ve been quite open about the mention of ‘the trilogy’ since the single was released – have you started thinking about what might come after?

“After the trilogy we have no idea and we find that so exciting. We could’ve kept going with the trilogy and made it into a tetralogy etc. but we wanted to draw a line under the idea and start something fresh. We like to challenge ourselves to come up with a new idea. We don’t like to feel comfortable, being on edge suits us.”

If you could sum up, what would you consider the highlight of your career so far?

“This is a difficult one. Probably our most recent hometown show. Having the crowd sing back words, and even riffs, was insane. Never experienced such a feeling before, an overwhelming sense of pride and happiness.”

Are there any particular shows or milestones that you would consider to be on your band bucket list?

“For sure. Our first headline UK tour, headlining one of the bigger venues in London, supporting any of our favourite bands on a tour. Anything in that ballpark really. We all have individual bucket lists but when studying them closer you will see that most of the goals are very similar.”

Finally, to finish up – how would you choose to describe the project to any listeners about to discover Lonesome for the very first time?

“Uplifting sadness. You can feel an underlying melancholy but there is a sense of hope layered in there.”

To Myself, From Myself is out now independently. Purchase the record here.

Lonesome