Skinny Lister have really given us as much as they can since 2009, passing the growing flagon of their experiences with every album and tour. Theyve led an endless parade gathering fans old and new, from the respected folk circuit to the riotous Download Festival, igniting pogoing mosh-pits at each. Over the past ten years theyve travelled from rain-soaked London to the vast arteries of the USA, upgrading from narrow boat to Salty Dog Cruise, played huge tours across Europe and North America with Frank Turner, Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly as well as headlining themselves across festivals, sweatboxes and ever-larger venues.
After three albums taking confident steps into an ever larger world, their fourth offering, The Story Is... (produced and mixed by Barny Barnicott - Arctic Monkeys, The Enemy, The Temper Trap) takes the tales of the everyday, the minutiae of our lives, and turns them into potent pop that rings oh so true.
The Story Is
finds fables in vastly contrasting true stories. Of an arsonist setting fire to the flat below Dans (Artist Arsonist), of the sheer annoyance felt when accidentally filling a diesel van with unleaded (Diesel Vehicle) - both songs laced with insight into everyones feelings. Even when the songs are outside of the bands personal experience, they are still inspired by close connections. 38 Minutes came from a friends Facebook post about receiving the Hawaiian ballistic missile alert in early 2018, while Stop & Breathe is a plea to everyone to take time out when they can, based on a good friend talking after a friend sadly departed due to suicide.
Musically, the band has also scoured volumes of texture and tone. Though songs like Rattle & Roar and Sometimes So It Goes will be familiar to anyone whos loved the bands three previous albums, Forge & Flagon, Down on Deptford Broadway and The Devil, the Heart & the Fight, the band has explored a lexicon of their tastes. The Shining takes on Blondies new wave disco, giving Lorna Thomas (vocals) the spotlight. Lorna takes the reins on two of the most energising songs My Life, My Architecture and My Distraction and brings her unmistakable vitality to the album. 38 Minutes spins like a top with the urgency of an impending doom, backing ooohs like sirens, and an electric pace as if theyre outrunning the clock. Theyve turned every melodic instinct up and, along with the hooks and lyrical reality Dan has drawn, its a deep dip into the bands encyclopaedic sound.
