Have we ever needed great storytellers so badly? Voices to snap us out of our collective grey funk, to pull us out of our narrow, hemmed-in worlds and to lighten our days and enlighten us with their perspectives, Immersing us in their worldview and history. People who can make us laugh, cry, gasp or nod sagely, to see our world anew and not feel so alone. We need stories, vignettes, new windows to look out of, and narrators to help those new visions make sense.
In short, we need Scott Lavene. Born and raised in Essex, but a man of the world who has wandered far and wide, Lavene’s a storyteller who can capture all the madness, joy and frustration of life while singing about worms writhing in the ground. Lavene’s been in bands since his teens, but only really located the voice that makes his new album Milk City Sweethearts so remarkable – that combination of wry observation, humble wisdom, unguarded vulnerability and unpredictable humour – in a music workshop for alcoholics and addicts, long after he’d bid farewell to childhood dreams of pop stardom, and the ghosts and demons that accompany those dreams.
With his stories, Lavene makes us all feel a little less alone – he’s that voice in our ear who always has a tale more weird, more tragic, more funny than our own, but in whose experiences we can see our own. Laughter, tears, madness and redemption reside within this magical songs, the full spectrum of existence. You’d be a fool to miss out.
"A master storyteller." Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music.
"A delicate balladeer with Robyn Hitchcock's surrealist flair" - MOJO
"Any 'best albums of 2019' lists that don't have Scott Lavene's 'Broke' near the top are bullshit" - Dangerous Minds
"Sounds like an updated version of something that Stiff records would have released in the 70's." - Steve Lamacq
"Think Baxter Dury's warped kid brother." - The Times
With added support from TOENAILS - Previously featured on BBC Introducing, with influences ranging from Damien Rice to Dora Jar, Toenails is a singer-songwriter from the grim north of England.
