Song of the Week: Lonedon

The beautiful people of the SB Family group on Facebook have, via their votes last week, given me the gift of Lonedon. To say I'm happy about this would be a vast understatement!

It was a close contest too, and was very nearly pipped to the post by Skin up and Blow. As much as I could have had enormous fun with that one, Lonedon happens to be a treasured favourite of mine.

If you've landed here having never heard this song before - brace yourself. It's an incredibly beautiful song (truly), but there's also a gut-wrenching sadness about it. I don't mean that as a negative thing, it's just that Zac conveys emotion so effectively through his vocals that by the end you'll feel as though you too, have been on this journey of loneliness right beside him.

Right from the opening notes, that guitar feels as though it's being played with strings directly connected to your heart. Its gentle yet incredibly powerful tones immediately make you sit up and listen. Then you're hit with Zac's vocals, and wow do they make an impression here. I absolutely love those opening lines.

The vocals in Lonedon display such range. In places very much raw and gritty yet in others tender and gentle, as they move into the powerful chorus that begins with very smooth but high pitched tones. Zac's voice is just an absolute pleasure to listen to, and it conveys emotion so damn well. For me, this is absolutely one of his best vocal performances, and there's some tough competition in this category!

Instrumentally this song is divine, the pace ranging from gentle and delicate during the verses and building to a crescendo for the chorus. The guitar work is just perfection. I'll be honest, I struggle finding the right words to describe the sound (I'm not a musician), but I know how it makes me feel. During the slower segments it almost draws you into a hypnotic lull. As beautiful as this sounds, it conveys that feeling of sadness just as well as the lyrics, albeit in a different way.

The pace of the chorus is different, but the tone remains the same. Only now it really twists the knife in to give a bittersweet edge of both ugliness and beauty all at the same time. There is a certain romantic beauty in sadness, it's one reason why tragedies were so popular as far back as the days of Shakespeare and beyond. The tone of the guitar feels painfully poignant at times and would make a perfect backdrop for any tragedy worth its salt!

The theme of the song is kind of like a letter of defiance to the city of London. Which I can absolutely relate to, having spent around 12 years of my life (including my teenage years) living in South-West London. As a place to live the city definitely has its plus points, but it can also make you incredibly miserable while just trying to stay alive. Particularly if you're not among the chosen few to have a very healthy bank balance. I have fond memories of the place but personally I was glad to leave.

Zac paints us a picture of this extremely well lyrically. Right from the very first verse you're left with a vivid impression of the monotony and emptiness of daily life in the city and the way it can drag you down.

"Walking up and down the same old street,
I feel like someone pressed repeat,
Hazy days in the day-glo sun,
I ain’t feeling much like number one"

He then brings us into that searingly powerful chorus which further emphasises the cruel side of the city and the way it can tear at your soul.

"Since you tore my heart in two,
Come down got me feeling blue,
I need a holiday,
Get away,
From the way that I feel today,
Living in my
Lonedon,
Lonedon,
Lonedon,
Lone - Lone - Lonedon"

The almost chant-like repetition of "Lonedon" at the end, alongside the gathering instrumental pace in the background really helps to drive the message of a man at the end of his tether home. Utterly brilliant!

"Ghost town on a busy street,
The lips move but the mouth don’t speak,
Lonedon’s trying to eat me alive,
A million people and I’m just one guy,"

The second verse really starts to fill that picture of a loneliness inducing city out. The last line especially resonated with me. I've stood on many a busy street in central London, with hundreds of people rushing on by and not one of them noticing each other, let alone me.

One of the places I lived was a horrible concrete block of flats and maisonettes, I literally had hundreds of people living beside and on top of me. Yet there was very little community spirit, and what little did spring up was quickly crushed under the weight of opposition. Instead of working with each other, it almost felt like we were doing the opposite.

It's a modern malaise not unique to London, I realise that. People wrapped up in their own lives, too busy to even glance at their fellow human beings, let alone truly notice them. But it does seem especially prevalent in London, at least as far as the UK is concerned. Likely because the pace of life is just that much faster there, and basic survival is harder because of the sheer expense of everything, especially in the last 15 years or so. Those are two reasons among many at least.

That picture of a single man in the midst of this huge number of people who never communicate is such a vivid portrayal of the heart-breaking loneliness that so many in big cities feel.

As human beings, we should be doing better than this. We can do better than this!

Sorry, I'll step off my soap box now. Sometimes I forget I'm meant to be writing a song review and not a commentary on the general state of life in modern Britain. That said, the reason I end up in these places is because the song takes me there, so maybe it's not that wrong after all. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I won't analyse the lyrics further because I'm already running the risk of boring everyone to death (which may be a nicer way to go than loneliness but neither is good!).

In closing I'll just say this - Lonedon may not be drawing us a pretty picture, but it's an accurate one and will resonate with many people who have lived in London or similar big cities around the world. It's also an important one, because we're human beings, and though our lives aren't always pretty and nice, lived experience is always valid. Especially when it's portrayed this beautifully and honestly.

The level of honesty Zac displays in his writing never fails to blow me away. As you can see from the image (a still from the video), the man even shares his journal pages with us! (I hope you make it to LA one day!)

I have to give a shout out for the video too - it so perfectly fits the song and really adds movement in the appropriate places. So masterfully done.

In the end, Lonedon makes you think and feel, and really, isn't that the whole point of art?

If you appreciate this wonderful band, you can do a lot to help support The Skinner Brothers by buying some tour tickets, merch, or even buying a digital copy of the music on Bandcamp. Every bit of support goes a long way to help ensure we'll have lots more music to look forward to!