Mike Lindsay – Mercury Prize-winning producer, co-founder of the folk band Tunng, and one-half of LUMP with Laura Marling – has announced his debut solo album. supershapes volume 1 will be released on June 14 via Moshi Moshi Records. It’s the first instalment in a series of albums that explore “the miraculous in the mundane,” according to Lindsay, diving into “everyday domestic objects, especially tables, coffee table books, and the daily rituals that shape us, heavily focusing on the majestic in the domestic.” Listen to the first single, a collaboration with Anna B Savage called ‘‘lie down’, below.
“The song itself is loosely based on reverse FOMO, when you’re out every night but yearning for domestic bliss, with all the menial tasks like taking out the rubbish and watching guilty pleasure telly,” Lindsay explained in a press release. “There is an unsettling, never-ending cycle of sevens on this track, you never quite get to relax. Though you’re woozy from the bendy bass, wobble chords and lullaby woodwind, you’re snapped out it by fast scattered table percussion and wonk sax. The words Lie down Lie down Lie down… Are all recorded on my phone from members of my entire family at Christmas.”
Anna B Savage’s vocals are featured prominently through the LP, which also includes contributions from multi-instrumentalist Ross Blake, saxophonist Robert Stillman (of The Smile’s live band), and drummer Adam Betts (Three Trapped Tigers, Squarepusher). “I had also just worked with Robert Stillman on the Nick Drake cover of ‘Saturday Sun’ I did with Guy Garvey,” Lindsay said. “Robert is an incredible saxophone player and musician. He has this beautiful thick and warm wild tone. I asked him to come in for a couple of days to bring his magic to the shapes.”
“As time went on though, I felt the songs were still missing a voice,” he added. “The more they developed as instrumentals, the more I could imagine the tones of Anna B Savage. I had already worked with Anna on her album in|FLUX which was a wonderful experience. She is a true poet of the everyday emotions. Over four or five days together in my new studio in Margate, the supershapes started to come alive!”
supershapes volume 1 Cover Artwork:
supershapes volume 1 Tracklist:
1. lie down
2. ruins in reverse
3. table
4. pretender to surrender
5. kachumber
6. two blues
7. it’s all for you
8. do what
9. content
10. i was the thief