Manchester-based genre-challenging band, W.H. Lung prepare for the release of their sophomore album, Vanities, arriving on September 3rd, 2021 on Melodic Records. With their brand new single and video, Showstopper, the band once again make evident their natural ability for genre and style amalgamation, while they also draw attention to the pungency of their sound.
Showstopper sees W.H. Lung taking their krautrock-infused post punk to its most danceable, channeling eighties' new wave and the Manchester scene. Tom Sharkett explains: “Manchester is a very important part of this record. The White Hotel, nights like Wet Play, seeing Gerd Janson DJ at the End of Year Riot (Electric Chair) and then discovering all the amazing stuff on his label Running Back. Then when we moved to Todmorden it was the same. Seeing Andrew Weatherall down the road from our flat at The Golden Lion - it just felt like an exciting time for us and I wanted to consume as much new music as possible.”
Joe Evans adds: “Vanities is a musical representation of what Tom and I crave the most now that it’s been taken away from us. In simple terms, we love to dance and have both fallen deeper in love with the music that facilitates that. Because of this voracious appetite for new music and the experiences that come with that hunger, influences on the album are vast: the aforementioned Weatherall, Robyn, Todd Terje, Grauzone, Kelly Lee Owens, Helena Hauff and countless others.”
The band comment on the new single: “Showstopper is about The Fear. It’s the day after the night before when you’ve let it all go or let yourself go large or let yourself get vulnerable, thinking ah no what happened last night? what did I say? And yet the song does contain testimony of the beauty and transformation that can be found in a very good night out. softlizard’s verse is saying, alright stop thinking so much, get up and dance.”
“Shooting this video was a first for myself as a new director, but it could not have been a better experience,” admits the video's director, Eve Louisa. “As soon as I heard the song 'showstopper', the ideas were endless and working with the band was wonderful. The video demonstrates the captivating nature of the song. From the single-audience member’s entranced dancing too the hypnotising backdrop visuals. Pulling inspiration from the videos of Dee Lite and King Krule amongst others, we wanted to show a charismatic, eclectic, intriguing look at the band - a show stopping appearance.”
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