The band released their album, Alone Aboard The Ark, in 2013 through Full Time Hobby. The album is being supported by an eleven date tour of the UK, commencing on April 12 at The Kazimier in Liverpool and ending on April 25 at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. The new LP - recorded at Kinks frontman Ray Davies‘ Konk Studios - is the follow up to 2011’s lauded Into The Murky Water, which the band toured in ever distinctive fashion, including a date at the London Barbican backed by the 40-piece Heritage Orchestra.
Fittingly, Alone Aboard The Ark sees the band expanding their arcadian, Baroque pop sound with a more diverse array of sounds and inventive orchestration. Following a summer of rehearsals beside the River Ouse in Befordshire, The Leisure Society decamped to Konk Studios to begin recording the tracks that would become Alone Aboard The Ark. Having declared himself a fan of The Leisure Society, Kinks frontman Ray Davies (owner of Konk) originally sought out the band to help him arrange and record his new solo material, and also included the band in his curation of 2011’s Meltdown Festival on the South Bank.
The genesis of The Leisure Society spans back to the friendship made by Nick Hemming and Christian Hardy in their hometown of Burton on Trent. When the pair relocated to London they fell in with the Brighton-based Wilkommen Collective, and with Helen Whitaker, Mike Siddell and Sebastian Hankins, came to form The Leisure Society. The single 'The Last of The Melting Snow' from their debut LP The Sleeper was nonimated for a 2009 Ivor Novello (alongside heavyweights such as Elbow & The Last Shadow Puppets), and the band joined an incredibly select group when a year later, 'Save It For Someone Who Cares' was also nominated for an Ivor.
Lyrically, Alone Aboard The Ark is an album informed by a palette as eclectic as it's musical flesh. Album standout 'The Sober Scent of Paper' is a hair-raising, elegiac waltz informed somewhat unconsciously by the demise of Sylvia Plath: 'When I began writing‘ says Nick 'I didn’t know what it was going to be about. For some reason, the first line 'Chains dredge the great lake around you / Pull you along by the knots in your hair‘ made me think of her. I guess it’s quite a dark desolate image‘. Yet there's light to this shade, with 'Tearing The Arches Down' marrying a wryly observed narrative 'The boy with the bloodshot eyes / A legend in your lunchtime' to an ebullient chant.
Over the summer, Nick’s 8 hours a day Olympic TV habit manifested inself in 'Fight For Everyone‘, which whilst celebrating British success, also considers those who also 'had this spine-tingling roar of support, but could only ever be an also-ran'. The track also marks The Leisure Society’s first foray into synths, utilising as it does six different vintage synth lines, layered up by Helen and Christian.
Having recorded both The Sleeper and 2011's follow-up Into The Murky Water in home studios, the range of technology both old and new at the band's disposal at Konk proved to be the perfect foil for The Leisure Society's ambitious designs. Alone Aboard The Ark was recorded on a 2“ tape machine and a 1970s mixing desk, and the value of recording live, coupled with the band's minimal approach to arrangement, is borne out across the album. Nick Etwell’s (trumpeter to Mumford & Sons) brass lines permeate 'One Man and His Fug', whilst the electric guitar lines heard on 'The Last in A Long Line' were the product of Christian and Mike‘s two Gretches recorded playing at opposite ends of the studio. Even the piano part for 'We Go Together' underwent a nocturnal reinvention when Christian had 'a moment of inspiration, whilst deeply drunk at midnight listening to the playback'.
Ask the band what makes them most proud of Alone Aboard The Ark though, and the answer is likely to be 'a gang mentality'. Say Christian and Nick, 'There’s no question that this is 'the one' in terms of us five working together to create something. As a result of the camaraderie and everyone having their say, we’re all at our absolute peak on this album'.
Dust On the Dancefloor
The Leisure Society Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The restless legs that never loosen up
Oh the sweet smell of the blood
Though the heart aches she was not made to love
Another summer wasted on a boy
When shadows leech the colour from your skin
And team by team we split and start again
Spread the spotlight from the bar to the door
And visualise the roles you never played
Brave words die on your lips
In the wake of relationships
Eternal passers by
With the reek of repeat on our hides
But we're reaching out from every fall
Relief
Beneath
The dust on the dancefloor
Reflecting now his life is where he sits
An epitaph falls flat between dry lips
What a great day for demise
What a long road I have walked, just to die
To fall apart the way that people do
The Leisure Society's song "Dust On the Dancefloor" is a haunting and poetic reflection on the fleeting nature of time and the duality of beauty and pain. The first verse describes the physical and emotional restlessness that comes from feeling trapped in a life that doesn't fulfill you. The singer imagines herself as a dancer with the tide behind her eyes and restless legs that never loosen up. The sweet smell of the blood is a reminder of the pain that comes with loving someone who is not capable of loving her back. Another summer is wasted on a boy who can't give her what she needs. It's a poignant portrayal of the struggle to find meaning and purpose in a world that often feels empty and meaningless.
The second verse continues with the theme of duality, as the singer reflects on the way that shadows can leech the color from your skin and relationships can fall apart despite your best efforts. The old, cracked mirror-ball symbolizes the illusions we create for ourselves in order to hide from the truth. We visualize the roles we never played, the lives we never lived. The final verse brings the song to a close with a meditation on mortality. The singer reflects on her life and the long road she has walked, just to die. She falls apart like everyone else, but there is beauty in the relief and release that comes with letting go.
Line by Line Meaning
The tide behind the eyes that never shut
The constant flow of tears from one's eyes that never sleeps
The restless legs that never loosen up
Feeling constantly restless and unable to find rest for one's legs
Oh the sweet smell of the blood
The bittersweet scent of reality that one cannot escape
Though the heart aches she was not made to love
Despite the pain of unrequited love, it is not always meant to be
Another summer wasted on a boy
A disappointment of a summer spent investing in a fleeting romance
When shadows leech the colour from your skin
The draining of vibrance and life from one's existence
And team by team we split and start again
Life's constant cycle of changes and new beginnings
Let the old, cracked mirror-ball
Retrospection on the aged, flawed parts of one's identity and history
Spread the spotlight from the bar to the door
Visualization of growth and progress from one's past to present self
And visualise the roles you never played
Imagining alternate versions of oneself that were never actualized
Brave words die on your lips
Fear and hesitation preventing bold speech and actions
In the wake of relationships
Reflecting on the effects that past relationships still have
Eternal passers by
The fleeting nature of people in one's life
With the reek of repeat on our hides
Feeling stuck in a pattern of making the same mistakes repeatedly
But we're reaching out from every fall
Despite the hardships, hopeful efforts to rise again
Relief
The much needed release from pain and disappointment
Beneath
Below the surface of one's outward emotions and demeanor
The dust on the dancefloor
The forgotten remnants of previous times and experiences
Reflecting now his life is where he sits
Looking back and contemplating where one's life has led thus far
An epitaph falls flat between dry lips
A remnant of a legacy that feels unremarkable or forgotten
What a great day for demise
The irony of tragic events happening on an otherwise beautiful day
What a long road I have walked, just to die
Feeling an overwhelming sense of effort and journey without a significant payoff
To fall apart the way that people do
The inevitable breakdown and unraveling of human life and relationships
Contributed by Carter E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Nathaniel Choi
i spent almost a week trying to remember the title of this song. my friend dedicated it to me for some reason in 2016, and i miss them. i'm sad it isnt on spotify though. i love this song so much.
Josh Dutton
What do you mean? It is on Spotify!
Low-Fat Choi
love it!
yobboblogging
This is perfect!