If you do not know Free Lunch, here is a little introduction from their label Devil Town Tapes:
‘Dumbwaiter’ is the latest effort from Free Lunch, a brotherly duo from Bournemouth comprising of Henry and Ted Scanlan. Joined by a roster of friends and regular collaborators, the duo liken the collection to “an audio scrapbook of characters – mostly loners and oddballs, but each with a heart of gold”. The release finds Free Lunch stepping into the recording studio for the first time, drawing influence from the rich instrumentation of country music, the finest cuts from their dad’s record collection (think Supertramp and Neil Young), as well as their own 90’s sensibilities to craft gloriously wonky pop confections.
I have been a huge fan of DTT releases and this one is no exception. Anything they release is worth checking out. but I am liking this new Free Lunch even more. Such beautiful lo-fi indie rock songs. If you are a fan of Alex G, and I know you are, you would definitely enjoy listening to this album. The instruments in these songs are so beautiful. I am trying to find the right words to describe the feeling but I somehow just cannot. While listening to this album I am just imagining a cottage in the mountain with my friends, having fun, and enjoying life. Maybe we all need more music like this in our lives.
I have written to Free Lunch and asked them our 3 questions:
What inspired you to start making music and what keeps you making music?
Probably our dad mainly. He’d always plonk classic songs on the piano when we were growing up and I think that crept into our brains. What keeps us going? Chasing the dragon, baby. We have never been fully satisfied by a song we’ve made. We probably never will be!
What was the most challenging thing in your music (artistic) path?
Definitely the recording process, we suck at the whole DIY thing. We slaved over cruddy GarageBand demos for aeons, then we met our bassist Dave (from The Attic Sounds) at one of our gigs and he put us on the straight and narrow. Now we have studio microphones, professional mixing, mastering – the works.
What would you dream to do if anything was possible?
We’d find an expert engineer with a fully operational vintage studio, then chain them to a radiator and make them work for free. (This is basically what Dave is doing currently.)
Do not forget to get a tape from my favorite label Devil Town Tapes and support the band.
You can find more music on Bandcamp.