LEWIS COLEMAN RETURNS WITH FOOLHARDY ART-ROCK TRACK “TALKING TO YOURSELF”
+ NEW ALBUM OUT OCTOBER 27 ON BELOVED RECORDINGS
Biiiig news today! We’re beyond thrilled to announce BLR-001, Lewis Coleman’s “Offline”, the second record from the beloved Melbourne artist out October 27th via yours truly <3. To celebrate, here’s the first single “Talking To Yourself” with an accompanying video directed by Jack Ralph —>
“I think of growing up walking to the train, listening to The Velvet Underground, The Strokes, The Dandy Warhols, Television. Casually embellishing the drum fills on my thighs with each step. Walking in time with the music like I was in my own movie scene, a sense of invincibility. It’s bursting at the seams, it’s hot, fuzzy, saturated, raw, fun, bored in that way that bored is fun, foolhardy”
With lanky, dawdling guitar lines that almost talk and trip over each other, “Talking To Yourself” is a comment on the ever increasing individuality within our modern society. “I can’t really relate to you cos’ I’m so caught up selling my own life”, Coleman sings, an observation into our veiled short-sightedness that moves in parallel with the people around us, while never quite touching. Of the track, Coleman says “Increasingly these days with how interactions and sharing works in the world, it feels like lots of us are back to engaging in parallel play; where we move with each other without interacting directly, we are influenced by our surroundings, sharing our lives, into a hall of mirrors.”
Coleman had planned to play more shows around Method Of Places but, like many of us in the early days of the pandemic, he spent a lot of time alone instead. He insulated himself in his bungalow studio, crafting what would become, for him, a collection of songs that celebrate a more confident and daring side. His goals were simple, and perhaps an antidote to the time: Create “a record that encourages the listener to energise themselves and move forward. It’s music to get out of bed for.”
With majority of the instrumentation laid down by Coleman himself (except drums, strings and bits here and there), the fine tuning was made over a five day stint in Meanjin/Brisbane with dear friend Sam Cromack of Ball Park Music, co-producing and helping Coleman shape the lyrical form and what tracks would best articulate the ethos of Offline. What results is a collection of songs that both melodically and lyrically conjure imagery of someone looking inwards to expand outwards.
“There’s always going to be a particular soft, introspective character to the way I go about putting music together. But here I am leaning against that discovering how colour can be brought out of the blues and into the reds”
Between records, Coleman has become a preeminent collaborator, producing music for and performing with Mo’Ju, Ruby Gill, Kat Edwards, Gabriella Cohen, Darvid Thor, Chitra and Coda Chroma. A generous, well (be)loved and similarly underrated musical gem in our community, he has comfortably come into his own. Offline is a strut with Coleman and his friends, it’s a top button undone and coarse indigo sheets, it's creased and complex like Coleman and can’t be ironed out.
Artworks: Myka Wallace // LP Design: Piewack // Photos: Darvid Thor
Beloved & Lewis Coleman Launch Party with Way Dynamic & Rowena Wise
If you’re in Melbourne we’d love to celebrate this with you on August 11 @ The Evelyn <3 Tickets are selling, grab yours here.
