Seattle-born, UK-based band Longboat explores Britain, London and everyday life on forthcoming electronic album, set for release in September
Longboat announces the forthcoming release of Proud of My Postcode, a new all-electronic album inspired by Britain, London and the experience of seeing the country through the eyes of an American musician who has made the UK an increasingly important part of his life.
Set for release at the end of September, Proud of My Postcode was recorded at Strongroom Studios in Shoreditch, with Will Davies engineering. Across the album, Longboat moves between Britain’s past and present, creating an observational portrait shaped by history, everyday life and a deep affection for the country.
Formed in Seattle in 2011, Longboat is a prolific, genre-fluid band led by its founding musician, an original jazz tenor saxophonist and songwriter. Although Longboat is often a solo operation in the studio, the band can expand to include live rock and jazz musicians, strings, horns and backing singers, depending on what each piece of music demands.
Proud of My Postcode is the 37th album in Longboat’s extensive catalogue.
An American Perspective on Britain
The album grew out of a long-standing fascination with Britain and the contrasts between life in the UK and Longboat’s founder’s original home of Seattle.
Seattle is surrounded by mountains, forests and wildlife, while Britain offers something entirely different: thousands of years of history embedded into its cities, towns and landscapes. For Longboat, that history provides an endless supply of subjects to observe and transform into music.
But Proud of My Postcode isn’t intended to be a comprehensive portrait of Britain. Instead, it reflects one musician’s personal relationship with the country and the details that have caught his attention along the way.
“Proud of My Postcode doesn’t draw a complete picture of the UK, but I hope it helps to convey my affection for this country,” says Longboat’s founder.
That affection extends beyond Britain’s famous landmarks and historical moments. Longboat is particularly interested in the everyday — the ordinary moments, habits and observations that make life in Britain distinctive.
“I particularly like the way people celebrate the mundane here between various and sundry political and economic crises,” he says.
Rather than writing traditional love songs, Longboat approaches songwriting as a form of observation. Freed from the conventions of romantic songwriting, the music can focus on the world immediately around it: people, places, history, culture and the contradictions of modern life.
“It’s pretty liberating,” he explains.
From Seattle to Clerkenwell
Longboat’s connection with the UK has also increasingly moved beyond the recording studio.
The band’s founder currently spends time between Britain and Seattle while putting longer-term plans into place, with the intention of making the UK his permanent home in the future. In London, he has also begun performing piano-only versions of around 100 songs from Longboat’s extensive repertoire around Clerkenwell and hopes to take these performances further afield.
This emphasis on direct, human performance reflects Longboat’s independent approach to music. The band is committed to songwriting, recording and performance without the use of artificial intelligence, placing human creativity and musical agency at the heart of its work.
With Proud of My Postcode, Longboat turns that philosophy towards Britain itself, creating an electronic album that captures the perspective of an American-born musician increasingly drawn to the history, character and everyday life of his adopted home.
About Longboat
Formed in Seattle in 2011, Longboat is a prolific, genre-fluid band led by its founding musician, an original jazz tenor saxophonist and songwriter. While often operating as a solo studio outfit, Longboat can expand to incorporate live rock and jazz musicians, strings, horns and backing singers according to the demands of the music. With more than 500 songs written and 39 albums recorded, Longboat has built an extensive catalogue driven by observation, experimentation and a fascination with the world around it.
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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/longboat
Bandcamp: https://longboat.bandcamp.com/
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