WAYPOINTS #174
14/01/21
"THE SUNSHINE IS WAITING IN THE SKY"
FEAT: CLÉMENTINE MARCH, SULKA, PICTISH TRAIL, ALABASTER DEPLUME, THE LOST MAP PODCAST, LOU CARPENTER VS HAROLD BISHOP + MORE
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NEW YEAR, NEW CLÉMENTINE MARCH ALBUM
If you like us have made a start to 2021 so sluggish every day feels like that time you took tranquilizers then ate an entire loaf of dry bread, don't beat yourself up, times are hard. And luckily there are others in our midst such as Clémentine March with enough zest, determination, joie de vivre and get up and go to allow the rest of us to, quite literally, lay down and stay. Stay in bed. Stay in bed with a family-sized Hovis Soft White Thick™, some Shippam's Beef Spread™, 10 seasons of Stargate SG-1 and a burning resentment towards this already hellish year.
Recorded over only two days in November – it sometimes take us two full days just to get around to brushing our teeth – Songs of Resilience is the intimate, instinctive and beguiling second album by Lost Map's favourite eclectic and prolific London-based French singer-songwriter. Subscribers to the PostMap Club received the album digitally on Christmas Day, as a little surprise gift from us to you; new subscribers in January will be sent the album digitally within 24 hours too. If you like to get physical (not like that, we're tired), know that a limited-edition CD version is set for release on February 5 (discount for PostMap members). Produced by Toby Burroughs from the band POZI at his west-London studio Rumbaba and eschewing Clémentine’s debut album Le Continent’s ornamented arrangements and multi-lingual flourish, Songs of Resilience is sung almost entirely in English and features just voice and acoustic guitar. It’s a stripped-back, raw and direct reaction to the times and circumstances in which it was made.
“The year 2020 was very unpredictable,” explains Clémentine, “and whilst I was working with my band to make songs for the second album, the new lockdown came in November. In order to stay sane and creative, I decided that the second album would be the third album, and I so wrote a set of 11 entirely new songs, to be recorded alone with my acoustic guitar. The songs are now mostly in English, and they reflect as much the atonement and losing friends and my grandparents, but also falling in love, seeing the seasons passing, living in the absolute present, because there is no choice. I consider this work as much as a parenthesis as a new step in my compositions. And now I can work again on the third album with the gang.”
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SWEATSHIRTS AND HATS 4 U
1) Where other countries have central heating, we Scots have a saying: "put on another jumper".
2) Make either/both jumpers a stylish Lost Map sweatshirt – both emerald green/light grey versions back in stock soon and on pre-order now.
3) Bobble hats also fine and practical homewear for the tightfisted.
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Be it expensive jewelry, sexy lingerie or the severed head of a rival suitor, it's always nice to give a loved one a surprising and thoughtful gift for Valentine's Day. For the upcoming February edition of the Lost Map Podcast – which will be a Valentine's special – we're asking you to gift us a question for our regular feature This or That? We know that's not really how gifts work but whatever. This or That?, if you don't already know, is basically a quickfire Q&A with artists and friends of the label, whereby they respond to a series of simple binary posers set by listeners. Examples of Valentine's themed questions could for instance be: "flowers or chocolates?", "restaurant or cinema?", "kiss or slap?", "Harold Bishop or Lou Carpenter?", "severed head or severed limb?" and so on etc etc, you get the idea. Just record your question to your phone and email it to club@lostmap.com – the best question every month wins a secret prize!
For a glimpse of This or That? in the wild, have a listen to the January edition of the Lost Map Podcast, streaming now, in which we interrogate the very soul of Ed Dowie – formerly of this parish – with penetrating questions such as "planes or trains?", "lunching or lunging?" and "Iron Maiden or Metallica?" There's also a funny and heartwarming First Gig Worst Gig with Alabaster dePlume, and a lovely long chat with Clémentine March, among other treats.
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JANUARY POSTMAP CLUB FEAT. ALABASTER DEPLUME
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As a wise man AKA Lost Map's resident saxophonist, poet and vibes-master extraordinaire Alabaster dePlume likes to say: "You're doing very well, it's not always easy." It's an upbeat mantra you'd benefit from keeping in mind as you bang refresh late into the night on Tesco's home delivery platform, desperately seeking an available slot, eyes bloodshot, hair wild, at your hand an overflowing ashtray and a three-quarters empty litre bottle of Scotch. Every little helps!
Take the edge off a bit by knowing that, if you sign up now to our PostMap Club subscription service, you'll be guaranteed stress-free and practically immediate delivery of our wears – no substitutions, no refunds, no bag of carrots so old, gnarled and hairy they look like the fingers of an ancient jaundiced witch. Additional to us posting out physical postcards by snail-mail, we have now begun as of this month sending an email to all new subscribers within 24 hours, featuring downloads of the corresponding month's PostMap releases. Instant grat, baby! This month's PostMap bag features a selection of exclusive and delightful live tracks by the aforementioned Alabaster dePlume, the afore-aforementioned new album Songs of Resilience by Clémentine March, and the latest single 'She Cares' by the not yet mentioned but soon about to be mentioned Sulka. That's a triple-hit o' good listening, all yours for approx as little as the price of a bag of Tesco Finest Clementine Easy Peelers 600g, which we might added were rated by one satisfied customer as follows:
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A round-up of the now THREE PostMap Club membership tiers and their respective prices and benefits – all excellent value very pleasant taste – is as follows:
REGULAR BREW
£3 + postage, per month
- Postcards! At least two collectible PostMap postcards sent to your door at the end of every month – each containing download codes for a mixture of brand new music on Lost Map, alongside a random selection from our archives. When you sign up you'll also receive the previous month's postcards, completely free.
- Badge! Plus a new badge for every year of your subscription.
- Monthly newsletter! Containing hot goss / farmyard sh*te.
- Discounts! On other Lost Map releases, merchandise, gigs.
- Feelgood glow! Help support an independent record label.
GOLD BLEND
£5 + postage, per month
- All of the above except with a bigger badge.
CLUB BISCUIT
£10 + postage, per month
- All of the above except with an EVEN BIGGER badge.
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CHEER UP WITH SULKA
- PRE-ORDER THE DEBUT ALBUM TAKE CARE ON CD AND CASSETTE
- STREAM AND SHARE THE TRACK 'SHE CARES' NOW
Still given to fits of silent morosity, bad-temper and crying 19 years on whenever we think about how Madge got engaged to Lou Carpenter so soon after Harold's disappearance (ref: Neighbours episodes 1520-1693 ), we're big advocates of a good sulk – an emotional process as perfectly natural and healthy as flirting, jealousy or laughing at the misfortune of our bitter enemies. All of which may or may not have anything to do with why we love one of Lost Map's latest signings Sulka, the lo-fi melodic scuzz-rock songwriting and recording project of Glasgow-based Lukas Clasen. Probably doesn't tbh. Anyway, fun fact: Lukas actually chose the name Sulka not because he's a sulky person – he's good fun actually – but because it's an anagram of his name! Other anagrams of his name include "Kulas" and "Asluk", which are clearly not as good as Sulka. Anyway.
Sulka's debut album for Lost Map Take Care is released on CD, cassette and via digital platforms on January 29, and is available for pre-order now together with a printed A5 illustrated zine and lyric book. We really can't recommend it highly enough. Lukas has got a way with a big hook so instantly addictive we were all about this album pretty much from first listen, and it's a great way to kick off our release schedule for 2021. Enjoy a lil' taster right now by listening to his latest single 'She Cares'. "Another indie bop with a little guitar solo in the middle, for a treat," says Lukas of 'She Cares'. "This one has been fun to play with the band and will be great live. The lyrics are hard to sum up – it’s kind of about casual dating vs the comfort of a steady relationship." Which is great but now we're thinking about Madge and Lou again and we're crying and oh F*CK YOU MUM *slams door*.
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JOIN OUR FACEGROUP
1) Facebook is a social media website which until recently was fairly relaxed about enabling a crypto-fascist US president to freely sew lies, chaos and terror. But they are not so into that anymore.
2) Join the Lost Map Loop for chat / nonsense / moral ambivalence.
3) *Shrugs*
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LISTEN TO THE WAYPOINTS PLAYLIST
1) ♫ Waaaay-points ♫
2) ♫ Everybody needs good Waaay-points ♫
3) ♫ With a little understaaaanding ♫
4) ♫ You can find the
perfect playlist ♫
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