Chas Leman 'Repetitive Strain' Ep Tour

About

Swiftly moving on from the Elvis Costello meets Early David Bowie meets Jarvis Cocker debut album Wish The Clock Would Go Back, Chas now presents us with this complete handbrake turn of an EP 'Repetitive Strain'.

Leaning into much more electronic and programmed sounds rather than the organic instrumentation of the last record, Chas says its been a direction he's been keen to explore for a while .

'The first CDs I ever bought with my own money were Original Pirate Material by The Streets and the first Gorillaz album, and they have both stayed in my all time greats ever since. I have always wanted to make a record based around loops and beats, but being basically computer illiterate, sort of prevented that from ever happening.'

The dream however has finally become a reality, teaming up with up and coming producer A.Charles (who also plays guitar and keys in Chas live band), they set themselves on a mission to maintain the jazzy, lounge pop crooner elements of the Chas sound, fused with Lo Fi drum samples, heavy vintage and modern synth sounds, as well as vocoder and other vocal manipulations to create a truly intriguing and majestic sonic world that shows just how deep and vast Chas' pallette of sound is.

Lyrically the record follows a strong theme of the brutality of a repetitive 9-5 lifestyle, and the increasing difficulties in maintaining any form of leisure and recreation admist today's soaring inflation and cost of living crisis. Chas, however, says it's not exactly a negative record .

'Its more like a celebration of the resilience and adaptability we have as humans. Most of us have our dreams and our talents taken away from us at a criminally early age, yet we roll with the punches and adapt to a life of banality and keep on keeping on. Most of us are unhappy in what we spend the majority of our days doing, but I think the animalistic survival mentality in us keeps us going and motivated, which I suppose is very handy for the ruling class ..but there you go!'

'Repetitive Strain' truly has us all wondering where on earth Chas will go next, and confirms his place in the little world of writers and artists who refuse to take the easy turn or go down any path other than their own.