San Lorenz - News

SAN LORENZ (formerly SPQR) Announce Debut Album A Death At Sea Released 14th October 2022 / Stream New Single ‘Wickerman’

Liverpool-based art-rock/indie-pop band San Lorenz (formerly known as SPQR) are delighted to announce news of their debut album A Death At Sea which is set for release on 14th October 2022. To celebrate the news, new single ‘Wickerman’ is out now and available to stream on all good DSPs. Commenting on the track, front man Peter Harrison says: “Wickerman was the most collaborative I’ve been when writing a song, and it really illuminated to me the merits of having [guitarist] Con’s ideas and production skills included in the writing process. I love the wry uncomfortable feel of the song. The drums and bass are ‘unsettling’ in the verses, but harmonious in the chorus.” “I suppose the song is about an idea I get presented with a fair amount. That being alive is enough and we should be grateful for that. I agree! But when I feel rubbish it doesn’t really work. Being alive is not nice most of the time.”

San Lorenz’s long-awaited forthcoming debut album A Death At Sea was recorded at the band’s own Yellowbird Studio in Neston and mixed by Grammy Award winning producer Mark Rankin (QOTSA, Adele, Bloc Party). “In the past, whenever I would read that stereotypical ‘it nearly killed us’ line from bands I’d roll my eyes,” comments Harrison on what the album release means to them. “Let me affirm the resonance and weight that it now holds with me: this album nearly killed us. With a writing and recording process that I can confidently state as one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done, it was definitely the ‘other stuff’ that nearly finished us off. But here we are. We did it.”

The album itself contains 11 brand new highly accomplished tracks from the Liverpool-based band that circle around themes of grief, hopelessness, de-realisations and the ‘death of the personality’. 

 “Some songs are about my mum,” explains Harrison. “Most are about me. Some of the songs have lyrics that I wrote as a much younger person, that were left in as a celebration of naivete, and as a conscious rejection of the shame I was feeling toward myself. It’s all very ‘mental-illness-ey’ because that’s been my life and my only real experiences up to now.”

“I feel very proud of what we have done, and the hardships that resulted from its birth have only served to amplify the emotional weight it carries in us all. I won’t be forgetting this one in a hurry, that’s for sure. Regardless of all of my waffling, I know for absolute certain that if you give these songs some of your time, they will give you a lot back. So if you’re willing to dive in and have a go, enjoy!”

Previous single and album track ‘Where’s The Shock?’ was released last month, racking up a healthy dose of radio support from Jack Saunders at BBC Radio One and Steve Lamacq at BBC 6music, with Jon Higgs from Everything Everything also backing the band recently on his Future Artists Mixtape with Jack Saunders (BBC Radio One). Recently changing their name in a firm moral stance against white nationalists co-opting the phrase used as the band’s previous moniker, San Lorenz spent the entirety of lockdown suspended in limbo. With long-awaited album plans alongside extensive touring scheduled throughout 2021, the band had been on a thrilling and well-deserved upward trajectory before the world was cast into pandemic chaos. Spending the majority of 2020 touring the country supporting HMLTD, JOHN, Childcare and METZ, they earned themselves a reputation for delivering powerful performances across a number of electrifying headline shows, with The Guardian hailing their “dramatic art rock” as “local favourites” in their review of Liverpool’s Sound City Festival. The band’s previous single, ‘Tightrope’, saw them tour the country with friends CHILDCARE, playing a stand-out show at London’s Lafayette, and the band were also supported by Amazon Music and YouTube Music. Further details and live dates TBA.