Band Of The Week #149 - LUMER
This week’s Band of the Week is Yorkshire post-punks LUMER, who have just released their debut EP ‘Disappearing Act’ - a collection of darks tales about broken society and corrupt leaders. They took a moment to talk to us about the release in more detail.
Hey there LUMER, how are you? How does it feel to finally have your debut EP out there in the world?
Hello, I’m alright thanks. It’s been a long time in the making with half the band leaving and being replaced, a global pandemic and an exit from the EU all happening since we recorded the very first track. I am certainly grateful to finally have it out in the world, as opposed to it sitting on my computer.
It is titled ‘Disappearing Act’ - does that have a certain meaning to it for you as a band?
I think the main reason we wanted that to be the name is because of our incessant need to upload and subsequently, delete tracks we have released in the past. Also, it worked as the name due to our hiatus from the first release in 2018. It is the title track of which we wrote together in the studio.
Where was the EP recorded? And behind the scenes stories from the creative process?
It was recorded at The Nave with Alex Greaves who has worked with us from when he began producing so I think it made sense to do our first EP with him. The whole recording process was, as commonly the case with us, very disorganised so probably took longer than was needed. We wrote a couple of the songs at the studio there as other tracks were being mixed. There were some tracks we wanted to bring to the EP but now cease to exist due to how unfinished we brought them there to record.
Do you consider yourselves to be a political band?
I think nowadays, it would be particularly hard to not consider ourselves a politically driven band. It’s a strange and somewhat scary time we find ourselves in, both with the whole health crisis but also with the terrible Tory government that is supposedly ‘leading’ us through this. Giving a hand for the NHS, yet selling it off with the other. I think I speak for most creatives nowadays when I say that it’s almost impossible to not be political.
What are the key themes and influences on the EP?
I think the EP has multiple themes throughout it, tracks about past loves and current hates, depression, deluded leaders and existentialism we all deal with at times. The themes therefore are quite sparse and honestly, quite bleak, but I think it’s important to discuss the difficult emotions in our lives. The main influences around the time of recording the EP were probably centred around bands like The Fall, The Birthday Party and Josef K. Often many other usual suspects that would have been apparent like Protomartyr and Wire but I think I certainly wanted to sound like The Fall if they could play their instruments and if Mark E Smith could sing.
Do you have a favourite lyric on the album? If so, which one and why?
I am not sure about a favourite lyric personally but I do quite like the opening lines to the verse of ‘First is Too Late’ - ‘Falling into bed grief tied around my neck’ & ‘A life filled with distractions taking passions’. I am proud of the lyrics for ‘Another Day at The Zoo’ as well as they are just a huge list of things that piss me off and events that happened at the time that also pissed me off.
Now the debut EP is out there, what next for the band? Debut album maybe?
Can never be too sure what is to come next really, we have been demoing more tracks than ever and we are aiming to go for big and have the debut. We have a brand spanking new lineup with my little brother Will and brother from another mother Ben. Only time will tell though and I am not sure if we want to rush into it too quickly.