The Leisure Society release Alone Aboard The Ark on Full Time Hobby next month on April 1st, 2013 (read our review). To celebrate its release we asked each band member to pick three of their favourite songs of all time! You can hear their results below in an exclusive playlist that is currently being featured on Deezer.
(To note: You can now get Deezer for free)
The Choices
Nick Hemming
Grimes – Oblivion
Love the fat, glitchy synth sound that opens this song. Such a great tune, probably my favourite of last year, I can even forgive the blatant borrowing of a melody from Del Shannon’s Runaway.
Cass McCombes – The Same Thing
One of my favourite artists of recent times. He does that Bob Dylan endless verses thing, and like Dylan he still manages to keep it fresh and interesting. Intelligent, sometimes moving lyrics and fantastic melodies.
Elliott Smith – Sweet Adeline
I was working in a record shop when XO came out. I remember putting it on the stereo really loud and being totally blown away. It was genuinely life changing in that it made me want to start singing my own songs.
Christian Hardy
Portishead – The RIP
The clunky nylon guitar arpeggio is totally raw and imperfect sounding. Beth Gibbons voice is impassioned and evocative and then the beat kicks in and the arpeggio is taken up by Analogue Synths and I swoon and look to the sky and say ‘Oh Portishead you clever clever rascals, you’ve done it again!’
Joni Mitchell – Carey
The Walkmen – Victory
I gather the band set up in the studio and spend some time playing and getting the sound, using amp and mic positions rather than post-production. Then they blast out the whole album in a blur of raw expansive passion. I’m utterly mad about this whole album. The playing, the singing and the emotion is as good as music gets for me. I run with this song in my ears and I go faster.
Helen Whitaker
Belle & Sebastian – She’s Losing It
Every time I hear this track I feel 16 years old again. It has a wonderfully nostalgic sound, and a slightly rough-around-the edges feel that gives it a really charming character. Tigermilk is my favourite B&S album and this track encapsulates the sweet, classic pop sound that makes it so great.
Kate Bush- Wuthering Heights
This song never fails to put a smile on my face, and there is never really a time when I don’t feel like listening to it! Kate Bush is so unique and uncompromising, and she was a great inspiration to me when I was younger. I love that although it is a classic pop song, she manages to get away with sounding completely deranged.
Efterklang – Sedna
Casper Clausen is another unique vocalist who I absolutely love. This track sees Efterklang explore a really striped back sound in the middle of an album which features a vast array of instruments. I love the bass sound, and I think it offsets Clausen’s falsetto perfectly.
Sebastian Hankins
Moments Notice – John Coltrane
I remember sitting down in a harmony lecture at music college being played this and falling in love with it. Just wonderful writing and great playing. In fact the whole of ‘Blue Train’ is a necessity.
La dame et la licorne – Shearwater
I remember hearing this song for the first time, stopping what I was doing and just being wrapped up in it. I loved it from the sparse and intense opening to the climactic ending. It incorporates every element of composition I love in a song.
Twistin’ the Night Away – Sam Cooke
A song that you can’t help but tap your foot and smile along to. Sam Cooke at his finest and normally the first song I put on at any party.
Mike Sidell
Waltz #2 – Elliot smith
We’ve had another one by him, but I couldn’t leave this song out. It blew me away the first time I heard it and gets better with every listen. So beautiful and sad at the same time.
The Look – Metronomy
The arrangement of this song is so stripped back, simple and brilliant for it. Metronomy do that so well. There’s nothing there that doesn’t need to be. It’s perfect.
Hocus Pocus – Focus
It’s a bit silly, and over the top, maybe even a little pretentious in the musicianship, but it’s a lot of fun! This song always puts a smile on my face when I hear it.
New Video: Fight For Everyone
UK Gig Dates
Fri 12 April – Kazimier, Liverpool
Sat 13 April – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
Sun 14 April – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Mon 15 April – Arts Centre, Norwich
Tue 16 April – The Haunt, Brighton
Wed 17 April – Glee Club, Birmingham
Thu 18 April – Thekla, Bristol
Sat 20 April – King Tuts, Glasgow
Sun 21 April – Deaf Institute, Manchester
Mon 22 April – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
Thu 25 April – Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Alone Aboard The Ark is released on Full Time Hobby April 1st, 2013
Pre-order here