Description
Label Review.
2019 debut album also available on CD.
Our Overview.
London, UK based Johnny Lloyd releases his much awaited debut album ‘Next Episode Starts in 15 Seconds’. Turning the page on his days as frontman of chart-conquering Camden four-piece indie-rock band Tribes, Johnny Lloyd has spent the years since their disbandment in 2013 starting afresh, rebuilding, taking career risks and forging a new path of his own definition. On the long road to his debut solo album Johnny initially began forging close bonds with like-minds including Jamie T, Mike Crossey (The 1975, Hozier) and Hugo White (The Maccabees), all of whom would help him to release two solo EPs in close succession: 2016’s ‘Dreamland’ and 2017’s ‘Eden’.
With the EPs warmly received and the reaction fervent at the 200+ live shows across the globe in support of the releases, public appetite was clearly ripe for Johnny’s debut album. However, with a surge in demand for Johnny to score a variety of film and TV projects (from the Rolling Stones’ ‘The Quiet One’ Film to 2019 feature film ‘RareBeasts’ and more), it would not be for another two years until the songs would come into fruition. And yet, accruing songs all the while through this busy period, with a vision for his solo debut Johnny finally felt the time and music was right for it to finally materialise.
Very much indicative of his new found direction and a bold departure from his indie-rock roots, ’Next Episode Starts in 15 Seconds’ sees Johnny’s sound metamorphosing to find kindred spirits with the likes of Nick Drake or Sparklehorse, channeling that hushed, alternative-folk sound that is so eternally enchanting. Checking into a 10ft square bunker in north London in late 2018 with producer Nathan Coen, the pair began to flesh out the bones of the record, operating with a hard-and-fast rule for each recorded track to be completed in “no more than three takes”. Though often a challenging process, the results as such were remarkable.
With its rawest, purest and most endearing qualities perfectly preserved, the collection of tracks began to glisten like diamonds in the rough. Dusted with finishing touches from Frank Turner, Hugo White and Adam Prendergast (from Harry Styles’s band), these esteemed guest appearances finessed the album with a touch of magic and drew the album into crystalline focus. Adding a last touch of class, the album was mastered at the infamous Abbey Road Studios by Frank Arkwright in late 2018.
Rich with personal renovations and revelations inspired by a whirlwind of changes in Johnny’s life over the past few years, the intimate and mature songs of the album tackle growth, getting sober and becoming a father, in a record that earnestl witnesses this songwriter enter back into the spotlight and truly come of age.