Luke Sital-Singh has announced details of his third album ‘A Golden State’ and released new single ‘Los Angeles’ along with its evocative accompanying video. ‘Los Angeles’ is the third single from ‘A Golden State’, which is out on April 5, following the 2018 singles ‘The Last Day’ and ‘Love Is Hard Enough Without The Winter’. Fans who pre-order the album will get all three singles as instant grats.
‘Los Angeles’ is a song as warm and hazy as an LA morning, and writing it helped in Luke’s decision to relocate from Bristol to the city with his wife, illustrator Hannah Cousins. “Hannah’s wanted to move to LA for years but I’m not much of an adventurer, I’m a worrier and a pessimist,” he says. “But I do need something new. And writing the song crystallized my enthusiasm for moving there. It’s probably the most honest and open song on the album. There’s no metaphor or characters. It’s me and Hannah, let’s move to America, I’m scared, you’re not scared, so stay close, ’cause I’m gonna freak out along the way.”
The song’s video was filmed in Los Angeles and Weston-super-Mare, and directed Chris ‘MUG5’ Maguire. “I had a choice to keep Weston-super-Mare as my local beach or change it to Malibu, California,” says Luke. “Tricky one! They could have flown me to LA for the video shoot, but I’m not Duran Duran. So I got the train to Weston and filmed my bits there.”
Recorded in Portland’s Jackpot Studios, famously set up by Elliott Smith and where alumni include R.E.M., Stephen Malkmus, and The Decemberists, ‘A Golden State’ was produced by Tommy McLaughlin (Villagers, Soak), who also produced Luke’s last album ‘Time Is A Riddle’ (2017).
Luke and Tommy headed to Portland in August 2018, and were joined in the studio by a small group of musicians. Whereas the last album was largely recorded live, ‘A Golden State’ was the opposite. “We wanted it to be big and warming,” says Luke. “So we used vintage ribbon mics, which give this really smoky, husky sound. The vocal was the most important thing, I wanted it to feel like it was jumping out the speaker.”
Last April, Luke was invited to give a TED Talk at the official TED conference in Vancouver, and the event proved the catalyst for Luke to finish set of the songs he’d been slowly, painfully writing for the new album. ‘A Golden State’ he says has been the most difficult of his three albums to write. “Even though I think I say that every time,” he admits, convinced he also said it about his 2014 debut ‘The Fire Inside’. “But this one did seem to take absolutely forever.”
At its most basic, ‘A Golden State’ is album of California dreaming. The songs therein reflect a new chapter, and a new mindset for Luke. “Overall, there is this ethereal, positive vibe, without being too cheesy,” he says. “There is an Americana fantasy, of wanting to escape to this gorgeous place, but also about what I’m escaping from.”
The cover artwork, a four-colour lino cut of the Venice Beach canals created by Hannah, is taken from her upcoming art book, Coastline (pre-order at www.hannahcousins.com), which chronicles a two-week road trip Hannah and Luke took down California’s iconic Pacific Coast Highway between San Francisco and LA.
Luke Sital-Singh released his debut single ‘Fail For You’ in 2012, introducing the world his deft ability to craft songs with a mesmerizing, piercing emotional quality. The song went on to be featured in numerous TV shows including ‘Grey’s Anatomy’. At the end of 2013, Sital-Singh was featured in the BBC’s Sound of 2014 list and released his debut record ‘The Fire Inside’ later that year.
After a couple of years touring the world and opening for artist such as Villagers, The Staves, Martha Wainwright and Angus and Julia Stone, in 2017 Sital-Singh released his critically-acclaimed sophomore record ‘Time Is A Riddle’. The album’s lead single ‘Killing Me’ has had 10m plays on Spotify, and Luke’s combined streams since 2015 are at almost 120m.