Over a decade on from their mercurial double-platinum selling debut album If You Wait, London Grammar are still going strong. The three-piece alternative pop act—consisting of vocalist Hannah Reid, guitarist Dan Rothman and multi-instrumentalist Dot Major—have long cemented themselves within British musical lineage. The band have sold more than three million albums globally, have two #1 records under their belt, and boast an Ivor Novello and various BRIT Award nominations. Even with their success, the group’s desire to innovate and progress the wider pop consensus shines through. With such, they share their fourth studio album, The Greatest Love.
Released on 13th September, the immersive new LP is the work of a band who sit pretty in the sonic space they’ve carved out for themselves, whilst continuing to chisel into new evolutionary ground. Sometimes ambient, other times intimate, the record flaunts London Grammar’s dazzling stylistic range, offering an eclectic track-list that flows seamlessly, driven graciously by Reid’s soaring vocal prowess. Featuring standout singles “House” (a brilliant album opener) and “Kind Of Man”, the impressive opus finds a band with legacy who still wish to evolve and reach new career heights.
Below, Wonderland connect with London Grammar, looking back on their decorated career, discussing the pop industry’s ever-changing face, and analysing the making and meaning of their fourth album.
Listen to The Greatest Love…
Read the full interview…
How are you? How has your summer been?
Our summer has been great. We have spent time with our loved ones, time in the studio and also time on stage. Most memorably performing at Glastonbury. That was a huge summer highlight for us, arguably a career highlight.
How has your outlook of the industry and your ethos as a band evolved over the last decade?
It has changed a great deal. I would say that during the making of this album we have collectively experienced the biggest shift on our perception of the music industry. It’s probably because it has changed so much since we last released an album, mostly because of the effect the pandemic had on the way people consume media. In short, we all feel more at ease with our place in the industry and less pressured to meet the ideals and norms that we may have previously stressed to do.
How do you reflect on the discography you’ve built over the past decade? Is it a feeling of unflinching pride? Are there things you’d do nothing looking back?
There is undoubtedly a sense of pride. And reflection has definitely been a major topic around the release of this record. It’s special for us to see how the music we have made has now bedded in to the musical landscape. I was actually in the studio recently with a young artist who saw a copy of our second album Truth is a Beautiful Thing on display. And they told me how special that album was to them when they had first it. That was a very wonderful thing for me to hear.
As an important act in the pop sphere since your debut album, what do you think of the direction of popular music in the UK? Have you had to adapt to the new industry zeitgeist, in terms of your sonic choices and the way you market and release your music?
We have probably failed to adapt in some ways to the mainstream marketing strategies around releasing music today. Which is primarily, focused around social media. We (probably to our detriment) have very little desire to ‘work’ that side of our business in the way that maybe some others do. Quite frankly we wish to disappear more behind our music rather than move visually in front of it. In terms of the sonics, that is something we do stay in tune with. We work with other producers and musicians who we think also have a good understanding of the sonic landscape. Notably one producer who has helped us do that on this record is Jon Hoskins.
Congratulations on your new record, The Greatest Love! How are you feeling about the release?
Very excited and nostalgic about the process it took to get to this point.
How does this album show the progress of your sonic and visual identity in comparison to its predecessors?
Truthfully I don’t know how much progress it necessarily shows sonically. It’s hard in a way to judge that from the inside. But it certainly shows the progress in our relationship as a trio and how we wish to move forward as a band. We really found this to be a transitional album process. All three of us have experimented outside of the band, with other creative endeavours and found some peace in our creative differences as a result. We also learnt a huge amount about how to make an album in a much more contained studio environment. Most of this album was made in small studios rather than big commercial spaces like our previous records.
What are the key themes that you are conveying across the new album? What is the messaging behind it, lyrically?
Self reflection and introspection. And from that, the resulting self love and confidence that can develop. Other themes like love, friendship, sexism, and the dark side of success are also explored.
Were there are key sonic influences you plucked from for the LP? Did you have an idea of the sonic pocket you wanted to fill going into the making of the album?
This record in many ways is a collection of songs each with their individual sonic pocket which we were searching for. So for example, “You and I” is our attempt at making a high fidelity 80s inspired pop/rock song. In the vein of Michael Jackson or Steely Dan. Whereas “House” is a trip hop and drum and bass 90s sonic pocket. Ultimately these are just London Grammar interpretations so naturally the result still feels uniquely LG.
What was the creative process? Did it differ from previous projects?
No. It was more fragmented, largely because of the time span of making this album. Some of these songs were written a long time ago. The production of the songs took place in many different spaces. The methodology behind how we constructed the songs was definitely similar to our previous records, but the time and spaces that occurred in felt very very different.
With a fourth album under your belt, what’s next for London Grammar? Do you still possess the passion and drive to churn out records?
I think we all feel like we are moving into a new chapter of London Grammar. This album in many ways feels like the shutting of the door on the previous work we have made. What lies ahead is hard to be sure of. We know what we dream of doing. Which is to go, lock ourselves away in some remote space and make a dream like fifth album that is more concise and uniform than The Greatest Love. But we may very well do the exact opposite. Our path as a band is entirely unpredictable to ourselves. But one thing we are fairly sure of, is that we will continue to make records together.
To you, what does success look like?
The continuation of our musical collaboration and our friendship. And the privilege of making a living by creating art.