Nizlopi released their first album, Half These Songs Are About You, in 2004 under FDM Records. It featured the singles "JCB" and "Girls". In 2007, Nizlopi received an 'Impala Platinum' award recognising sales of Half These Songs Are About You in Europe.
"JCB" was written about the dyslexia suffered by Luke at school and his escape to accompany his father at work, and was released as a single in June 2005, reaching number 160 in the UK Singles Chart. The single was then re-released in the UK on 12 December 2005, reaching number one the following week on 18 December 2005, selling more than twice the number of copies than their closest competitor, Westlife. Dermot O'Leary gave the track extensive airplay on his BBC Radio 2 show. Some bookmakers put it in the running for the honour of Christmas number one, but it was beaten by the winner of the second series of the UK version of The X Factor, Shayne Ward's debut single, "That's My Goal." "JCB" topped the charts for five consecutive weeks, giving them a Gold Single in the UK and a Double Platinum Single in Ireland. Both the single and video spent time at #1 on iTunes in the UK and Europe, with 100,000 plus downloads and 1,000 full track downloads to cell phones in one week.
A mini-EP containing six songs, titled ExtraOrdinary, was released on 4 September 2006. The six tracks included two that had been released before — "Helen" and "Yesterday" which were previously released on the JCB and Girls EPs respectively.
The band's second album, Make It Happen, was released on 31 March 2008. The album includes Martyn Barker (percussion/drums), Andy Simms (piano), Jonnie Fielding (violin), Jack Hobbs (vocal/scratching), Rory Simmons (trumpet), Kadially Kouyate (kors & Senegalese vocals), The Individuals Dedicated to the Ministry of Christ choir and a contribution by the poet Benjamin Zephaniah.
On 10 February 2010 an e-mail was sent out to all mailing list subscribers confirming that the band had split up after being together for 17 years. Luke Concannon stated "And that after many wild meanderings and much confusion I feel I must go on, on my own from here. That my dream is now to do another project, not Nizlopi, and to build a new life. So.this is good bye from Nizlopi. We are no more! Wow, there you go I said it. Scary as it is."
In 2012, the duo announced they would perform at the Union Chapel as a tribute to their friend Tony Moore. They officially announced their reunion in 2013, posting on their website that "Nizlopi have decided that we would love to play some shows together this year. So we are!" They have since played several festivals and headlining shows in the UK and Europe.
Bonus Track
Nizlopi Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And it sleeps in our bed,
Now it's madder than ever,
And i thought it was dead.
And it's created by the polarity,
Of lovers in Spring,
Score bullets for feelings,
Oh oh, the inconceivable madness,
Of all the joy you could bring,
Call out this spirit,
Make everyone sing.
Get up and call, call,
Wake up and call.
And joy is in it's lunch box,
With a simpson sticker on,
We've been crying without it,
It's been gone for so long.
And it's been created by the polarity,
Of lovers in Spring,
It's got bullets for feelings,
Makes everyone sing.
Oh oh, the inconceivable madness,
Of all the joy you could bring,
Call out this spirit,
Make everyone sing.
Get up and call, call,
Wake up and call.
How you doing,
How you doing,
How you doing,
Now all out down the land slide,
All out down the stream,
All out from the hill tops,
All out calling me.
All out to your mother,
All out round this place,
Round this place,
Down your face.
Call.
Go on, call,
Get up and call, call.
I'm not tired of living, not tired of living.
Come running through the hill side,
And it sleeps in our bed,
Now it's madder than ever,
And i thought it was dead
The song Bonus Track by Nizlopi is a very cryptic song with lyrics that are open to interpretation. The song seems to be about finding a sort of spirit or joy that was thought to be dead. The spirit is created by the polarity of lovers in spring and when it is found, it makes everyone sing. It comes running through the hillside and sleeps in our bed, but now it is madder than ever.
The song speaks to the power of joy and the transformative properties of love. The idea that something can be created by the polarity of lovers in spring is a very romantic notion. The spirit that is created has bullets for feelings and can make everyone sing. The song encourages the listener to call out this spirit and wake up to its power.
The song seems to be about finding something that has been lost and rediscovering the joy that comes with it. The lyrics are poetic and the melody haunting. The song seems to be urging the listener to awaken to the power of love and joy and to embrace it fully. It is a beautiful and uplifting message that speaks to the transformative power of music.
Line by Line Meaning
It comes running through the hillside,
And it sleeps in our bed,
Now it's madder than ever,
And i thought it was dead.
The unstoppable force of joy that we once thought had gone forever, has returned with a vengeance and is an integral part of our life.
And it's created by the polarity,
Of lovers in Spring,
Score bullets for feelings,
Makes everyone sing.
This joy is the result of the opposing forces of attraction between lovers in Spring, firing bullets that ignite deep feelings in everyone who is touched by its aura and causing them to sing.
Oh oh, the inconceivable madness,
Of all the joy you could bring,
Call out this spirit,
Make everyone sing.
Get up and call, call,
Wake up and call.
The overwhelming madness of the endless joy this spirit brings is inconceivable. We need to call it out from within us and make everyone around us sing this beautiful song of life with us. So let's wake up and call.
And joy is in it's lunch box,
With a simpson sticker on,
We've been crying without it,
It's been gone for so long.
This joy is like the lunchbox you used to carry with a simpson sticker on it when you were young. You never knew how much you missed it until it was gone. We have been living without it, and its absence has made us cry for so long.
Now it's been created by the polarity,
Of lovers in Spring,
It's got bullets for feelings,
Makes everyone sing.
Just like before, this joy has been created by the polarity of the love birds in spring. It's like a gun loaded with bullets of emotions that make everyone it touches break out into song.
Now all out down the land slide,
All out down the stream,
All out from the hill tops,
All out calling me.
All out to your mother,
All out round this place,
Round this place,
Down your face.
Call.
Go on, call,
Get up and call, call.
I'm not tired of living, not tired of living.
This joy is urging everyone to come out from hiding and embrace it as it takes us all for a wild ride down the landslides, the streams, and from the hilltops. It's calling out to everyone, even our mothers and to all who are in this place, making it impossible to resist. So let's get up and call this joy out loud, singing and rejoicing, and not tired of living.
Contributed by Alyssa P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.