Has it really been a year since The Lodger released their first album Grown-Ups? Here they are again with their new LP Life is Sweet, not even twelve months later, turning it up a notch with crisp production to further refine their Yorkshire pop sensibilities. Let’s just hope that they can keep up this pace!
Original Post 6/17/2007:
I’m starting to worry. Maybe cause it was my birthday recently I’m getting all nostalgic. Yes, I know things go in cycles, and the past few years of music have been heavily borrowing from the 80’s, but that was my decade. I would hold a tape recorder up to the radio to record Wang Cheung. I bought Tears for Fears on tape, Joy Division on vinyl, the Smiths on CD, Camper van Beathoven on a t-shirt, and the Cure on a poster. I saw the Descendents live and Dance Craze and Athens, Ga, Inside/Out on VHS. The 80’s were good to me. But it’s the next cycle that’s starting to worry me. Don’t tell me you haven’t seen the kids starting to sport long stringy hair and flannel shirts. We’re on a fine line between the next “scene” going hippie or retro Pearl Jam. Let’s just get it out of the way before my kids hit their teenage years.
The Lodger and their fine Yorkshire guitar pop, though, ain’t going down without a fight. While influenced and even motivated by the songwriting of such guitar pop stalwarts as the Wedding Present and the Housemartins, this Leeds band’s debut album Grown-ups, adds their own personal touch and a host of modern sensibilities, like crisp melodies, high-energy honesty and reverb-free drums, all evidenced in the outstanding “Let Her Go.” Just what an old fella needs to feel young again.