Gracious Losers - Loath to Leave
The Gracious Losers are based around the songs of lead singer and guitarist Jonathan Lilley but are essentially a super group made up from members of Sister John, Thrum, God Help the Girl, The Parsonage, amongst others.
As with their debut album The Last of the Gracious Losers, this new collection of songs features full fifteen piece band arrangements alongside sparse solo performances by Jonathan.
The new album Six Road Ends refers to a place in Northern Ireland, where six rural roads haphazardly converged at one perilous junction. It no longer exists, and so has taken on mythical qualities that once were very real, a place of stuckness, hesitation, and risk. A perfect summation of the themes in the songs on the album.
The album is just about to drop so I’m going to focus on the first single Loathe To Leave which was released on Friday 19 February.
When asked about the meaning behind the track they commented:
It’s about the sheer magic that is capturing and preserving a likeable version of ourselves on film or in a photograph, and the tragic reality of never being able to stay in that.
Loathe To Leave is distinctly low-key, based around an engaging guitar riff and floaty percussion. It is a beautiful song that tumbles along with different instruments gliding in and out to offer it some charming change ups and depth.
The vocals are provided in the main on this track by the very talented Amanda McKeown and they are effortlessly perfect as they elevate the song and give it a bit of warmth.
Lyrically it is picturesque as it describes the beauty of being captured in a photograph when they sing “twenty-four frames a second, capture me, still suspended, I'm a state of magic, perpetual state of magic, this is the stuff of magic, perpetual magic”.
If Loath To Leave is a sample of what we can expect on Six Road Ends then I think we are in for a fantastic second album, it is due out any day now and can be found on the Last Night From Glasgow label.
The Gracious Losers are indeed a supergroup, in more ways than one, they are not afraid to experiment and cross genre borders, catch up with their back catalogue you won’t be disappointed.
Give Loath to Leave a stream below:
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