Lazy Day – the music project of London-based songwriter Tilly Scantlebury (they/them) – return with a new single from their forthcoming debut album, Open the Door, out November 8th on Brace Yourself Records (Panic Shack, JOHN, Nuha Ruby Ra), as well as news of an eco-friendly Greensleeve edition of the album.
‘Concrete’, the fourth single drawn from Open the Door, is something of an incidental epic: a snowballing accumulation of vocal snippets, snaking and stuttering guitars and an insistent beat that drives it all along – the cumulative effect of these warring factors mimicking the emotional turmoil at the song’s core. In the midst of it all stands Scantlebury’s affecting vocal turn: an oasis in the storm. While its icy cool delivery might recall Dry Cleaning’s Florence Shaw, listen closer and you’ll hear the tender, heart-on-sleeve style of Life Without Buildings’ Sue Tompkins just as clearly.
“Concrete was a helpful metaphor,” explains Scantlebury. “It’s strong and sturdy, as well as being extremely heavy. It was a useful framework for thinking about relationships which felt stable, but at the same time weighed me down. Writing the lyrics like vignettes of memories helped me gain a sense of perspective, as I tried not to carry the full load of responsibility.
“This song is a big shift from what I’d made before,” they continue. “Written later in the album making process, I was gaining new confidence, realising that the record could be whatever I wanted it to be. At the same time, expectations I had held of myself for so long were starting to fall away. It was an amazing feeling, especially when the content of the song is about the breakdown of trust, my fears about someone coming true, and facing the collapse of it all head on. Writing Concrete felt like making a massive mess before doing the most concise tidy up ever. A bit of destruction in the interest of creation.”
Today also sees the announcement of a Greensleeve edition of Open the Door. A new staple of Brace Yourself Records releases, the Greensleeve edition is an attempt to acknowledge the alarming statistic often quoted in conjunction with consistently rising vinyl sales, that up to 48% of vinyl records are never played. This represents at best a market failure – huge numbers of fans appear to want only the packaging, not the media, but can’t buy just that – and at worst an ecological disaster, given the heavy carbon footprint of the vinyl-production industry.
Accordingly, the Greensleeve edition caters to the music fan who buys physical formats primarily to show their support and to own a physical object that can augment the listening experience, but who doesn’t want to contribute to the ecological weight of vinyl production or who has a tighter budget: priced at just £10.99, the Greensleeve is not just the most environmentally friendly physical version of Open the Door, but also the easiest on the wallet.
In the case of Open the Door, while you’ll still get the luscious sleeve design, double-sided lyrics and art print, and a download code for the full album, in lieu of the vinyl itself you’ll receive a limited edition, ethically made Lazy Day tea towel. It features a series of doors drawn by fans, friends and family – the result of Scantlebury doing a call-out for people to share drawings of doors from their lives. It’s symbolic of Open the Door as an album – full of promise, capacity, vistas – and an invite for listeners to ponder the possibilities behind their own door.
Thoughts Words Action 