Johnny Lloyd will release his third solo album ‘La La La’ on 16 July 2021 through Xtra Mile. Preorder the album on CD and gold-coloured vinyl. Listen to the first single from the new album, ‘2367’, below.
Hot on the heels of his stately soundtrack for ‘Rare Beasts’, Johnny Lloyd’s ‘La La La’ follows 2019’s ‘Next Episode Starts In 15 Seconds’ and 2020’s ‘Cheap Medication’, finding the Tribes frontman and film composer on track with his pledge to continue writing an album a year.
On typically prolific form, ‘La La La’ features 14 brand new tracks, produced by Max Clilverd, Johnny and Nathan Coen (the latter of whom co-wrote the ‘Rare Beasts’ OST) and further mixed and mastered by Frank Turner. With the songs predominantly dating back to a songwriting purple-patch between ‘Next Episode...’ and ‘Cheap Medication’, the album was finalised by Johnny during sessions at his Dorset home earlier this year.
Though written during the darkest of winter days in January 2021, you’ll hear no-such bleakness in the arrangements of this latest collection; especially so in the case of its summer-y, sun-kissed lead single: ‘2367’.
Shedding light on the track, Johnny says:
“I’ve had this riff for a long time. The song (‘2367’) was lyrically more abstract, musically more complicated and it goes down that slightly 70s groove-based sound. it didn’t sound like anything else I’ve ever done before. It really pops.”
Offering a more situational and less personal style of songwriting than in previous releases, ‘La La La’ is a record that finds Lloyd more comfortable in his own skin than ever and in inquisitive form. Alongside fine examples of the kind of tender acoustic ballads that Lloyd does so well (‘Night Guard’, ‘Don’t Swim Stoned’), there’s dashes of electronica (‘Joypolis’) and pepperings of Nashville-preened country, such as on the harmonica-driven ‘Beautiful World’, or the pedal-steel arranged ‘It’s On You’; Cure-esque new wave (‘Perfect Body’) to stripped-back ukulele folk songs (‘Moments On Earth’), and much, much more.
Closing the set is the retro-styled rock jam of ‘God Bless Ronnie Wood’, a track that signs off ‘La La La’ with a rousing homage to the iconic Stones axeman. As Johnny says:
“Ronnie Wood is my ultimate hero. He’s the ultimate kind of guitarist in that he plays for the band. In the 70s when everyone in the Stones was trying to play up front, he just really slotted in perfectly. I just love him, so I wrote this song about him. It’s about keeping your chin-up and carrying on, which I think Ronnie would always represent. He keeps the mood upbeat and carries on and has a laugh doing it.”
Since bursting onto the scene in 2010 as frontman of indie-rock outfit Tribes, Johnny Lloyd has gone on to establish himself as a prolific solo artist and esteemed film composer. Alongside his solo studio output, Johnny has also contributed music for numerous TV and film productions including ‘Frank of Ireland’, ‘Sex Education’, ‘Legacy of Lies’, ‘After Life’, plus the Sky Atlantic series ‘I Hate Suzie’. Releasing the official motion picture soundtrack for Billie Piper’s critically acclaimed ‘Rare Beasts’ film earlier this year, Lloyd is also planning new material and shows with the recently reactivated Tribes, with a date fixed at the Kentish Town O2 Forum on 4 December 2021 (tickets).
