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Mar
30
2004
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Lucky Jim Our Troubles End Tonight |
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Monday, 29 March 2004 |
 The meeting and formation of Lucky Jim is an inspiring lesson in Things Going Right. Edinburgh-born Gordon Graham had been traveling with his acoustic guitar, honing his songs on the open mic scene of the East Village, New York. Meanwhile on this side of the Atlantic, Brighton boy Ben Townsend was spending his days dreaming about his two passions - music and snowboarding. The offer of a free place on a music production course kept Ben from boarding a plane to the pistes while Gordon chose Brighton as his first stop-off point on his return to the UK. And it was in this tatty seaside town that the two met, and Lucky Jim came about.
Within a few days of his return to the UK, Gordon booked a slot at the legendary (now defunct) Lift Club. After one drummer dropped out, on a recommendation he approached Ben. Unphased by this, and despite the fact that he hadn't played drums for 2 years, Ben agreed to do the gig. On the night, the vibe was good enough that they decided straight away to record together; within just a few months the album "Our Troubles End Tonight" was complete.
‘Our Troubles End Tonight' has an effortless feel - Gordon and Ben have quite simply produced an album of glorious songs, beautifully arranged and produced. It's all about the songs. The production uses tricks both classic and modern, but they are never there for their own sake - only to create big spaces for the heart-stopping chord structures and melodies to soar. This is emotional power as potent as any number of Marshall stacks whacked up to 11, and it's totally unaffected. These are straightforward songs about the basic things like love, loss, longing and living, with all the emotional complexity those things imply...
The music is full of hints of classic precedents - you may hear echoes of Neil Young, Lee Hazlewood, Nick Cave, Van Morrison, Serge Gainsbourg, Arthur Lee, Leonard Cohen, Brian Wilson, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Ewan MacColl, Phil Spector and many others - but it is all done in such individual and modern style that the songs are far more than the sum of their influences.
There are intimations of the more organic side of Air, Lemon Jelly, and others on the more musically sophisticated side of 'chill out' music, but this is not generic comedown fodder - the emotional pallette of the lyrics and arrangements is too rich for that. Neither is this generic indie-shmindie, nu-country miserablism or self-defeating brit drabness. This is an album of strength and celebration, of songs that glory equally in the light and dark parts of life's rich tapestry. It's a record to lean on when things go wrong, and to revel in when Things Go Right.
It's also an inspirational record. It inspired a design company (Red Design) to form a record label (Red Records) to release the album last year - the entire run of beautifully hand-packaged albums selling out in no time on the back of some sensational gigs and word of mouth buzz. It also inspired Skint Records, home to some of the greatest electronic party anthems this country's heard, to sign a guitar act. Says Skint's Damian Harris - "When we first saw the band at a Red Records showcase we were really impressed. Then heard the album, fell in love with it, couldn't stop playing it, kept playing it to our friends then started to get evangelical about it... so we bullied Red Records into letting us sign them up".
The tracklisting for "Our Troubles End Tonight" is as follows:
1. You Stole My Heart Away
2. You're Lovely To Me
3. Our Troubles End Tonight
4. Leah
5. Lesbia
6. Almeria
7. The Honeymooners
8. Westwards We're Headed
9. My Soul Is On Fire
10.Endless Nights
Lucky Jim will be on tour throughout February and March. The dates are as follows:
February
13th London, Brixton Academy (supporting Lamb)
20th London, Borderline
March
16th London, Borderline
17th London, The Social
23rd Brighton, Komedia
24th London, Arts Café
26th Birmingham, Custard Factory
27th Manchester, Life Café
28th Nottingham, The Maze
29th Leeds, New Roscoe
30th Edinburgh, Bongo Club
31st Glasgow, Barfly
Lucky Jim release their debut album "Our Troubles End Tonight" on 3rd May 2004 through Skint Records.
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