Jamie Lenman Announces Fifth Album 'The Atheist', Shares New Single Lena Don't Leave Me
Tuesday, 04 October 2022
Written by Jon Stickler
Photo: Jen Hingley
Jamie Lenman has announced his fifth album.
'The Atheist' is set for release through Big Scary Monsters on November 25, and finds the former Reuben frontman working alongside Mark Roberts and Kieran Heighes, who engineered, produced and mixed the record, with Tom Langrish handling mastering. Lenman said:
"I've got into the habit of saying, whenever I have a new record out, 'I’ve been trying to do something like this for a really long time', because they typically have very lengthy gestation periods with a lot of thought going in.
"This one is no exception – I’ve always loved mellowed-out indie rock like Gemma Hayes and Pete Yorn and I’ve always wanted to make an album with that sound. Trying to focus on simple songs, looking for any place we could add a bit of extra sugar – a little bit saccharine, but also slightly snide and in some places softly sad. The end result is – I hope – a bittersweet experience."
Recorded at The Chapel studios in Chichester early in 2022, it'll feature the new single Lena Don't Leave Me, which shows off Lenman's softer songwriting side, embracing his love of rock giants Queen and his wife and long-term partner Lena. It follows the previously unveiled track Talk Hard. Lenman added:
"It’s a song about what it actually means to refer to your partner as your ‘other half’. That’s how I feel about my wife and I. We started out as two separate people and over the past 25 years we’ve grown into two halves of a whole person. She fills up my missing parts and I fill hers - not that she has as many as I do. I always feel when people are talking to me that they’re only really getting half the story if she’s not around, just like it says in the song. And not the best half, either!
"When I was a kid I loved bands like Queen with all their pomp, and then as a teenager I turned the other way with Nirvana’s punk philosophy. I went through the post-hardcore thing with all the awkward timings and chonky riffs, and now I find myself leaning back towards those giants of stadium rock. I wrote Lena to see if I could do something like Toto, with my best impression of Brian May’s guitar solos. It’s my love letter to all those classic power ballads – it’s so uncool, it’s cool."
Lenman, whose last studio album was 2020's 'King Of Clubs', has a run of intimate UK shows scheduled for autumn 2022. Tickets are on sale.
'The Atheist' tracklist:
1. This Is All There Is
2. Talk Hard
3. Hospital Tree
4. Deep Down
5. Lena Don’t Leave Me
6. My Anchor
7. Bad Friend
8. Song On My Tongue
9. This Town Will Never Let Us Go
10. The Wedding Ring
11. War of Doubt
Jamie Lenman Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Mon October 31 2022 - SOUTHAMPTON Joiners
Tue November 01 2022 - TUNBRIDGE WELLS Forum
Wed November 16 2022 - ST ALBANS Horn
Thu November 17 2022 - HATFIELD Hertford Corn Exchange
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