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Product details
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Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Into The Murky Water | |||
| 2. Dust On The Dancefloor | |||
| 3. Our Hearts Burn Like Damp | |||
| 4. Matches | |||
| 5. You Could Keep Me Talking | |||
| 6. Although We All Are Lost | |||
| 7. This Phantom Life | |||
| 8. The Hungry Years | |||
| 9. I Shall Forever Remain An | |||
| 10. Amateur | |||
See all 13 tracks on this disc
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| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. Flying | |||
| 2. Weir Road | |||
| 3. It Dissolves In The Writing | |||
| 4. Notions Of What Is Right | |||
| 5. Wanderin’ Star | |||
| 6. C’mon Anon | |||
| 7. A Richer Dust | |||
Product Description
Review
Even before you get to the music there is plenty to pique one’s interest with The Leisure Society. Mainman Nick Hemming was in 90s shoegaze band The Telescopes and shared a further outfit with actor Paddy Considine and director Shane Meadows. They had two consecutive Ivor Novello nominations in 2009 and 2010, for Best Song Musically and Lyrically, and have had the approbation of everyone from Guy Garvey to Brian Eno, who described their debut album The Sleeper as "beautiful".
It’s a certain type of beautiful that TLS offer. If you liked Shelleyan Orphan or enjoy The Mummers today, they should take your fancy. As with those two, you get the sense not of pop groups but of collectives; of a core team with additional musicians drafted in when extra colours and textures are required. In the case of TLS, that means, variously, double-bass, violin, cello, flute, mandolin, glockenspiel, drums and maracas.
There are almost as many words as sounds. Even the titles go on a bit. Hemming isn’t as furiously verbose as Elvis Costello, as cerebral as Paddy McAloon or as geekily deranged as Jarvis Cocker, but he’s in that general ballpark. More than anyone, he recalls Neil Hannon: Into the Murky Water comes from the same school of witty, wistful tunefulness as The Divine Comedy. And this despite suggestions that TLS are a UK counterpart to Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes.
This isn’t Americana, it’s quintessentially English fare. There are hints of US or European influences – for example, Dust on the Dancefloor brings to mind motorik folk pop, like The Modern Lovers and Neu! in a clinch with Belle and Sebastian, and Better Written Off (Than Written Down) is jaunty country rock – but it mostly has the ornate feel and quaint ambience of a 1930s seaside tearoom. Hemming’s voice has some of the adenoidal quaver but none of the florid flamboyance of Roy Orbison (or Hayden Thorpe from Wild Beasts), allowing the autumnal melancholy to unfold and "each savoured syllable", as he sings on Although We Are All Lost, to be heard. It all adds up to a record for those who want thrills but don’t want them dumb.
--Paul Lester
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
CD Description
Reissue of The Leisure Society’s celebrated second album ‘Into The Murky Water’, including a 7 track ‘Out Of The Murky Water’ bonus disc of covers, instrumentals and rarities. Garnering comparisons to The Beatles (Drowned in Sound) and Belle & Sebastian (The Mail On Sunday), ‘Into The Murky Water’ is a record of wistful orchestral swoon and lush harmonies.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Appropriately enough for an album released just as the weather began to improve, `Into The Murky Water' is the aural equivalent of sitting in the beer garden of a quaint country pub with a ploughman's lunch and a foaming pint of nut brown ale. Packed with flavour and shot through with a comforting warmth, this is an album made for lazy sunny days.
There is also an air of eccentricity to the album, which was conceived during a road trip along the British coast. The decision was made early on to use only authentic instruments, regardless of how inconvenient that may prove to be. So it came to pass that the band trekked the length of the country just to find the right pipe organ sound or to tickle the keys of a vintage harpsichord.
Thankfully, their efforts paid off. This is a fulsome and grand record, packed with sturdy instrumentation yet not at the expense of clear, hummable melodies. From the very first track the listener is confronted by all manner of instruments, yet the experience is not overwhelming. What could have felt like an acoustic assault feels much more akin to a harmonic hug thanks to the band's natural grasp of song craft.
For the most part the music is up-tempo and chipper - such as the sprightly percussion of the eponymous opener or the delirious sway of `You Could Keep Me Talking' - but even when the mood dips, it strikes for wistful rather than melancholy. `Our Hearts Burn Like Damp Matches' is a prime example of this - a song ideal for gazing out of a train window with a wry smile.
The closest comparison one could reasonably draw would be to the work of Divine Comedy. The two acts hold a similar grasp of lyricism and melody, each being capable of sweeping and soaring in the most enjoyable fashion, yet also able to restrain themselves sufficiently to allow the natural beauty of a song to shine through. Vocally, the Leisure Society are rather lighter, yet there is still adequate substance to ensure that the voice is not lost amid the excitable clamour of the music.
Suffice to say, if you only buy one quirky indie-pop-folk album this Summer, make it this one. Just do it quickly, while the sun's still here...
There is also an air of eccentricity to the album, which was conceived during a road trip along the British coast. The decision was made early on to use only authentic instruments, regardless of how inconvenient that may prove to be. So it came to pass that the band trekked the length of the country just to find the right pipe organ sound or to tickle the keys of a vintage harpsichord.
Thankfully, their efforts paid off. This is a fulsome and grand record, packed with sturdy instrumentation yet not at the expense of clear, hummable melodies. From the very first track the listener is confronted by all manner of instruments, yet the experience is not overwhelming. What could have felt like an acoustic assault feels much more akin to a harmonic hug thanks to the band's natural grasp of song craft.
For the most part the music is up-tempo and chipper - such as the sprightly percussion of the eponymous opener or the delirious sway of `You Could Keep Me Talking' - but even when the mood dips, it strikes for wistful rather than melancholy. `Our Hearts Burn Like Damp Matches' is a prime example of this - a song ideal for gazing out of a train window with a wry smile.
The closest comparison one could reasonably draw would be to the work of Divine Comedy. The two acts hold a similar grasp of lyricism and melody, each being capable of sweeping and soaring in the most enjoyable fashion, yet also able to restrain themselves sufficiently to allow the natural beauty of a song to shine through. Vocally, the Leisure Society are rather lighter, yet there is still adequate substance to ensure that the voice is not lost amid the excitable clamour of the music.
Suffice to say, if you only buy one quirky indie-pop-folk album this Summer, make it this one. Just do it quickly, while the sun's still here...
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the second outing for the most well known band to come out of Brighton `Wilkommen Collective', the Leisure Society. Whilst this really is a team effort, front man Nick Hemming wrote all the music so deserves most of the laurels for this one.
They had a theory on how this album wanted to sound, in that they only wanted to use authentic natural instruments. So we have a smorgasbord of interesting things being played such as harpsichord, theramin (?), flexatone, marimba and my favourite flugal horn (cos you know it sounds smutty). It opens like a sixties theme tune with the title track and even has background Hollywoodesque operatics. One of my friends said on first hearing it is very like the excellent `Sleeper'The Sleeper, which is actually not a bad thing. The whole album hangs together beautifully belying the amount of effort that has clearly gone into it. `Our hearts burn like damp matches', is a lovely soft ballad and has the line `Every day arrives too late, Every morning seems the same, Stale regrets and dull routine'. They bring a summery welcome to music that just makes you want to smile, there is even a touch of Bix Beiderbecke going on at one point too, it may not be original but it don't half sound good.
A word on the sleeve, it is just fab, with a cut out outer sleeve and a book type presentation, with some lovely comic style underwater artwork and full lyrics, just quality and to quote from `Although we are lost' -`We know we're happy now'. As with their first album this takes a while to get into, but it is well worth the effort, my current favourite is `Better written off (than written down)' which seems to get better each time and has music twists that are a trade mark in generosity of this great band, Miss at your peril and they are an absolute must see live too.
They had a theory on how this album wanted to sound, in that they only wanted to use authentic natural instruments. So we have a smorgasbord of interesting things being played such as harpsichord, theramin (?), flexatone, marimba and my favourite flugal horn (cos you know it sounds smutty). It opens like a sixties theme tune with the title track and even has background Hollywoodesque operatics. One of my friends said on first hearing it is very like the excellent `Sleeper'The Sleeper, which is actually not a bad thing. The whole album hangs together beautifully belying the amount of effort that has clearly gone into it. `Our hearts burn like damp matches', is a lovely soft ballad and has the line `Every day arrives too late, Every morning seems the same, Stale regrets and dull routine'. They bring a summery welcome to music that just makes you want to smile, there is even a touch of Bix Beiderbecke going on at one point too, it may not be original but it don't half sound good.
A word on the sleeve, it is just fab, with a cut out outer sleeve and a book type presentation, with some lovely comic style underwater artwork and full lyrics, just quality and to quote from `Although we are lost' -`We know we're happy now'. As with their first album this takes a while to get into, but it is well worth the effort, my current favourite is `Better written off (than written down)' which seems to get better each time and has music twists that are a trade mark in generosity of this great band, Miss at your peril and they are an absolute must see live too.
Format:Audio CD
And great album. Bought as a Christmas present for a fan, didn't realise how good this band is, but am now going to try to catch them live.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
New Sounds
Was doing a spot of early Christmas shopping in Winchester and was browsing in a lovely independent shop and was very aware of the background music! Read more
Published 4 months ago by Vanessa
brilliant musicanship
I wouldnt quite know how to categorize this music if I had to. "Folk-pop" is one description that has been used, and i suppose that is as close as one could get, but it doesnt... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Captain Kirk
Bliss
Last years sublime "Sleeper" album is a very hard act to follow, two Ivor Novello awards, praise from all directions and songs I have taken to heart (buy it! Read more
Published 11 months ago by Johnny Mel
Murky I think not
Never really been into indi pop, but having first bought Leisure Societys The Sleeper, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this, and I'm not disappointed. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Bond 007
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