Lincolnshire quartet Lower Lands have been doing some growing up recently. Since the release of their debut EP ‘Growing Pains’ in April 2012, the band have been working tirelessly on their sophomore record. It’s now available for free, for us all to hear on the ever-generous internet.
‘Canvas’ develops upon their distinctively British alt-rock sound, with a far crisper production and a more unique take on the genre. The band explain that in the last twelve months they’ve moved away from their usual influences, to create their own path instead.
“Before, we would just write with our influences in mind and the songs would come out sounding like those bands”, explains guitarist and one of three vocalists Paul Howells, “but this time we just write the songs and they come out sounding like us because we’re not trying to emulate anything, we’re just trying to express something of our own accord.”
The result still nods towards other bands – the likes of Reuben and Million Dead immediately spring to mind – but there’s definitely a personal stamp. The fundamentally clean nature of the sound still retains some erratic undertones, jumping around while staying within no-frills time-signatures. It’s the insatiable melodies that really grab your attention, layered below commanding cracked harmonies.
“Our song-writing is a bit more mature. Instead of thinking about parts of a song being cool on their own we try and work with the whole thing in mind,” Paul tells us. “The songs tend to flow better and generally be a bit more interesting or memorable.”
When you listen to ‘Canvas’ you can feel that consistency. Each track walks the same line, yet brings something different to the party. ‘Wasted Youth’ for example exaggerates the melody, while lead single ‘Eat the Rich’ has a more punchy, urgent flavour. Both of them, alongside the rest of the release, are a positive step on from ‘Growing Pains’, their EP that has already garnered plenty of critical acclaim.
Given the circumstances, developing was inevitable. As Paul recounts, the band find themselves in a very different situation this time around. “Well, we have a new drummer and we’ve been on the road a few times. When ‘Growing Pains’ came out, we were just out of college and we’d never toured, but now we’re in our 20s and living away from home.”
“We’ve had a lot of formative experiences by touring in other countries and having to be more responsible, as a band and as people.”
These experiences not only influenced their sound, but also their lyrics. “[It’s there] in the lyrics to ‘Canvas’ and ‘Line Check’. Just being a bit older, making our own mistakes and learning from them has definitely influenced the way the songs came out.”
This new found maturity didn’t lead to a quick EP release. Even before ‘Growing Pains’, ‘Canvas’ was in its infancy. So, just how long?
“Writing [‘Canvas’] took fucking ages! We started writing it before ‘Growing Pains’ but it sort of kept changing along the way until it eventually arrived the way it is now,” Paul confesses. “We were real perfectionists about the songs and we really tried to craft them into what we felt were best incarnations of those ideas.”
Clearly a practical philosophy, ‘Canvas’ has become something of an older brother to ‘Growing Pains’. We can only imagine how their first go at the record sounded.
Following ‘Eat the Rich’, Lower Lands have also opted to release ‘Canvas’ as a free download. This is representative of the band’s current objective: to spread their name and build their fan base. Shows with the likes of Deaf Havana, Sharks and a tour with Hawthorne Heights have gone some way to increase exposure, and ‘Canvas’ should do it some more.
“At the minute it’s not about making money or trying to turn a profit. We simply want to share this thing that we’ve put our lives into for the last 2 years with as many people as possible!”
With that in mind, Lower Lands are looking towards the future. “We’d really like our fan base to grow to the point where we can take a step towards a career doing the band. Having more money to enact some of our more creative ideas, doing bigger, longer tours and meeting with people who we think make great music or have a great message is important to us,” Paul reveals.
‘Canvas’ ticks all the right boxes to get Lower Lands noticed, and the prospect of a future full-length is exciting. If the band carry on in the same direction, they could blow these modest goals out the water.
BEN TIPPLE