Album Review: St Lundi - 'The Island'
After a summer of pop up tours and single releases, St Lundi’s debut album ‘The Island’ is finally here.
It’s been a busy few months for St Lundi. 23 summer shows, pop ups in cities all over Europe and even more before the year is out, he has been everywhere this year. Everything so far has led up to this moment; the release of his debut album ‘The Island’. The record has been several years in the making-largely autobiographical, each track a story he shares about his life. Covering everything from his connection to his family, moving to London to pursue a career in music, the highs and lows of relationships and friendships, this album is a scrapbook of his formative years and as such is the perfect way to debut as an artist. In the leadup to the release, St Lundi released a set of postcards with a snapshot into the adventures and stories behind each of the 15 songs. The series, entitled ‘Tracklisting’, adds a whole layer to the listening experience, giving the audience a rare insight into the intimate and personal details that went behind the songwriting. Complete with pictures and anecdotes from childhood, they’re a beautiful addition to the album and showcase just how personal this project has and continues to be.
The album opens with titular track, ‘The Island’. An introduction and welcome to the proceedings, it begins a raw home recording of a child’s voice which is accompanied by instrumentals. Sweet, emotive and curious, the young voice says “Archie, just so you know I love you to the moon and back”. Without being given the chance to confirm who this voice is coming from nor who they are speaking to, St Lundi’s vocals come pouring in. He laments about returning home, to the island and the people returning home. Its a fantastic starting lyric; rather than bursting out into the world and facing the trials and tribulations of being a new artist, he instead frames the debut as his homecoming. This is where he has always supposed to be, it was only a matter of time. The instrumentals are deliberately atmospheric and recordings of phone calls and messages from family weave through booming synths and soaring vocals. It creates such momentum for the rest of the album and really builds up a sense of weight and significance that is sure to continue. The musicality demonstrates how important this is to him and even before we have heard the stories and unpacked the lyrics, we know we are in for something special.
‘Following my Heart’ is the first full track and tells the story of the beginning of St Lundi’s journey as an artist. It is one of the songs that was released in anticipation of the album’s drop and quickly has become a favourite among his rapidly building fanbase. It wonderfully balances the hope and anticipation of being a new artist and trying things out for the first time with the existentialism and fears of chasing something that at first feels so out of reach. It’s brilliantly poppy and bright, reminiscent of artists like Coldplay, Damien Rice and James Morrison upon whom St Lundi has drawn a lot of inspiration. “I never seen a sky like this before, so if the world is waiting for me then I go and see it all.” The song is one about hope and following your dreams. St Lundi’s determination which has been a notable aspect of his career so far is evident on this track; he has a real excitement and fervour for his craft and will fight to get it out into the world. It demonstrates to us his warmth and genuine love for what he does, something which will continue as we move through the album.
Up next is ‘Ready To Be Loved’, one of St Lundi’s most streamed tracks and his self-confessed favourite to perform live. As the title would suggest, it is all about falling in love for the first time and the process of allowing yourself to love and be loved by someone else. One of his many collaborations with producer Oli Green, it is a poetic and compelling track that saw St Lundi learning how to be true to himself. There is a darkness and pain to it that wasn’t so clear in the opening number; he talks about having been burned by love’s flame before and his fears about risking his heart getting broken again. The verses build into a chorus destined for the biggest of the world’s arenas and sees St Lundi taking a huge leap of faith and rediscovering what it means to be in love again. The blend of a universal message that resonates with everyone, St Lundi’s heart-on-sleeve candour and charm, and instantly catchy pop instrumentation of the track make it near impossible not to enjoy. It is a surprise to nobody that this is the track that fans have been singing along to the loudest throughout the summer.
There are four interludes on the album, the first being ‘notes from mum’ which comes immediately after ‘Nobody Like You’, a track St Lundi penned for his mother. Audio recordings are a recurring motif throughout the album and this one is a snippet from a phone call shared between the two in which he talks to her about his intentions behind one of the songs he is including. It's an incredible moment to witness; so rarely do artists give such private details about their lives and the truth behind their songwriting but this is one which I am certain will ring true to so many listeners. The interlude beautifully blends into the track ‘Different Houses’, which retells the experience of being in a family with separate parents. St Lundi throughout the interlude and the track itself wants to avoid the sad cliche of the notion of coming from a ‘broken home’ because the way he sees it, nothing about the way his family is is broken. Though aspects of the experience were tricky and he recognises both his own and his mum's fear of telling this story, he asserts over and over again that this is a tale with a happy ending. It is one of the moments in the album that is beautifully coupled with the postcard videos shared via instagram, offering even more layers to the story and creating a place where St Lundi has encouraged fans to tell their own stories. It’s very special and one of the real highlights on the record.
Track 7 is a collaboration which features vocals and songwriting credits from British artist Emily Burns, a good friend who incidentally also has a debut album releasing this autumn. The track is about the end of a relationship and coming to terms with the idea of letting someone who doesn’t love you anymore go. St Lundi takes the first verse and Burns the second with the two coming together in the second chorus. Their voices blend together seamlessly and their tones are so complimentary. It is so interesting to see a breakup song told this way; the framing of the verses gives the impression that the listener is being told the story by both parties in the relationship. You can’t help but root for the pair to reconcile by the end even though you know from their lyrics that the love is lost. It’ll be exciting to see how St Lundi decides to perform this track live going forward; whether he decides to bring Burns along to shows or perhaps invites a lucky member of the audience to sing her verse, it is certain that it’ll be a moment to remember.
The third interlude is incredibly poignant and gives context for the voice we heard when the album began. Entitled ‘notes from rupert’, it again is a phone call from his mum but as little kids often do, it is one that is taken over by his baby brother Rupert. The bonds St Lundi has with his brothers is eminent throughout the album and an earlier interlude is a conversation with another of his brothers William but this one is particularly special because of the distance between the two. There is the literal distance as Rupert lives at home on Hayling island but there is the distance between them as a man and a young boy. Sensitive to not divulge too much, we never know how much younger Rupert is than his biggest brother, but we can see from family photographs and from his own testimony that St Lundi recognises just how different their lives are and how much he fears he misses out on due to being away. Distance in relationships is something so many of understand and struggle with and it means that its near impossible to listen to this interaction and not want to cry and hold those close to you that bit closer. As is the case with all the interludes, it leads into ‘When your Heart Breaks’ in which St Lundi tells baby bro that no matter what he decides to do, he will be by his side. He hopes to instil into him the same drive and desire to follow your dreams that he was given and is another very special and heartfelt moment on the album.
The album comes to a close as St Lundi turns to his only remaining family member, Dad. Throughout his career, he has been very candid and transparent about the difficulties in their relationship and the toll life and the family breakdown had on the two. St Lundi has for years talked about how in many of his relationships as a man with other men, there is a struggle sometimes to be vulnerable and voice your emotions and fears. He explains that this is true most in the relationship he shares with his dad and is something he continues to work on. The interlude and subsequent track written for his father epitomises this. When talking about his intentions and motivations behind it, he said:
“I wrote ‘Say So’ about my relationship with my father. We’d not spoken for nearly five years after falling out and no matter what I tried to do, nothing could replace our relationship. One day I realised maybe he’s not so good at talking because he never really had a father. So I reached out… and ever since we’ve been closer than ever. This song is there to encourage people to tell the ones they love that they love them.”
Being the most intimate and personal track on the album, it makes so much sense that St Lundi left this one till last. Its another that the fans know, so really ends things on a familiar high. A piano ballad, the beauty behind the track lies in its simplicity. Whilst it is accompanied by wonderful production and gravitas, acoustic renditions of the song demonstrate that the reason it is so good is down to the brilliant songwriting. Another wonderful collaboration, this time with Josefine Riddell, Matt James and Andre Nookadu, the love and craftsmanship behind the melodies and lyrics culminate in what really was the only way this album could have been finished. It bookends the sentiment from the intro perfectly; just as the voice told St Lundi that they loved him to the moon and back, this is his opportunity to say it back.
You’d think that after releasing a debut album rest would be a given but St Lundi is wasting no time and getting right back on the road. 14 dates around the UK and Europe have already been announced for the autumn season but tickets have already shown signs of selling out. The album is one that is thoroughly deserving of a listen live and who knows what could happen at the shows. Fans have already seen fifth member of the band Rupert take to the stage so it is clear that there is no limit to the love and warmth that comes off these performances and as the cooler weather draws in, St Lundi’s joy for everything he does is something we could all use.
Words by Kirsty Thomson
