Remember the last occasion you listened to a new album the first time and it started strong and stayed that way, track after track, through the last notes?
Yeah, it’s been a while. But “Dreaming the Impossible” by The Loft Club, a five-member rock band from Exeter, a few hours southwest of London, is one of those rare albums. Out digitally worldwide on August 7, it deserves a wide audience.
In early 2020, a former record company colleague who’s working with the group shared a near-final mix of the album, asking for my feedback.
On first listen during a short road trip from L.A. to San Diego, I thought the leadoff track rocked. So did the next, and the next…as I cynically waited for the throwaway. After 11 tracks, I didn’t hear one.
So what’s to like? To these ears, Daniel Schamroth’s neo-psychedelic rock ‘n’ folk and alt-rock songs with actual melodies and literate lyrics; his bandmates’ harmonious multi-part vocals and well-versed musicianship, with performances blending passion and precision, power and grace; savvy production that mixes the warmth of familiarity with the thrill of discovery – just like the music.
Figuring maybe I’d missed something, I let the album play through again. Confirmed: All killer, no filler.
By then, rolling into north San Diego County, I was thinking how well this modern Brit-rock band had captured and updated elements of the classic Southern California sound: “California Dreaming the Impossible.”
On the third play, I knew what was coming, thoroughly enjoyed it, and wanted more.
The Loft Club’s debut is a much-needed, much-appreciated breath of fresh nostalgia, with all the makings of a neo-classic indie-rock album that will still sound timeless in another 50 years.
In “Dreaming the Impossible,” I hear echoes of the future. Can’t wait to hear this band’s further musical adventures.
More from an official press release below.
“Dreaming the Impossible,” the debut album from U.K. indie band The Loft Club, will be released digitally worldwide on August 7 by Lightyear Entertainment, through Caroline/UMG, in association with UK label So Let’s Talk.
“This is an album for the purists,” said frontman/songwriter Daniel Schamroth. “I’m one of those old school romantics who still practices the dying art of donning the headphones and consuming an album from start to finish via candlelight, with sleeve in hand. I don’t know if anyone listens to albums like that anymore, but I certainly do.”
“Dreaming the Impossible” is an album made for headphones – equal parts indie rock/folk-rock with flashes of ’60s guitar psychedelia, ’90s Brit-pop and alt-country, all woven together with three-part harmonies, wide-open chords, sing-along choruses, a lightness of touch and an uplifting spirit.
The Loft Club – Daniel Schamroth (guitar/vocals), Jamie Whyte (bass/vocals), Kieran Chalmers (drums), Josie Stoneman (vocals, who recently replaced Amy O’Laughlin) and Sam Piper (lead guitar) – draws on classic themes like love, loss, friendship and nature with timelessness and resonance. And while clearly celebrating their retro musical influences, the players also bring a 21st-century freshness to the sonic mix.
Imagine a musical time machine from the future that’s crash-landed in Laurel Canyon circa 1967.
Recorded at Middle Farm Studios in Devon, England with producer James Bragg (Jack Steadman, The Skints), “Dreaming Tthe Impossible” includes tracks such as “Heard Her Say” with its driving guitars and sense of what Schamroth describes as “the fleeting, dreamlike nature of life and however hard we chase it, it always eludes us in the end.”
“I’m Just A Man” offers three minutes of raw rock ‘n’ roll, with its whining guitars, screaming organ, pulsing bass lines and rumble of toms while “Keep Me Coming Home” comes down half a step with a melancholic verse before opening out into a big, guitar-filled chorus. The album also includes the infectious “Baby You’ll Be Fine,” which brings a much-needed message of hope.
Schamroth wrote the first 11 songs on “Dreaming Tthe Impossible” and co-wrote the previously released album closer, “Flicker,” with GRAMMY®-winner Lisa Loeb. “Flicker” (feat. Lisa Loeb) made “Record of the Day” on the prestigious ROTD (recordoftheday.com).
Watch the official video below.
Observed Clash Magazine: “The Loft Club have a sense of classicism running through their music…that chiming guitar sound, so redolent of everyone from The Byrds…[to] Big Star.”
BBC Introducing declared the band “nothing short of sensational.” British blog Listen With Monger said, “Essentially, this is the music that The Beatles would have produced if, instead of getting introspective in India, they’d gone to the Midwest with a burnt-out double-decker and gone native for a few months.”
The Exeter-based quintet looks forward to the day when they’ll be able to make their live debut in the States. Since the band members have been separated by quarantine, Schamroth has been performing solo acoustic lockdown sessions, including one for the U.S. charity Off Their Plate, which provides an economic lifeline to COVID-impacted restaurants and feeds communities in crisis.
The Loft Club secured a huge support slot in summer 2019 with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, along with The Charlatans and Reverend And The Makers, supporting the Oasis legend at Powderham Castle where, according to the Daily Mirror, they “got the party started with gusto.”
Track Listing – Dreaming the Impossible
- Dreaming the Impossible
- Heard Her Say
- I’m Just a Man
- True Love
- Baby You’ll Be Fine
- Keep Me Coming Home
- Let it Slide
- You Are the Sun
- Made in England
- Flat Broke
- Waves
- Flicker (feat. Lisa Loeb)
Santa Clarita journalist and Grammy nominee Stephen K. Peeples was raised by career newspaper journalists and music-lovers in Miami and Los Angeles. He earned a Grammy nomination as co-producer of the “Monterey International Pop Festival” box set with Lou Adler and Geoff Gans (Rhino/MIPF, 1992). • Peeples was the original, award-winning producer of “The Lost Lennon Tapes” radio series for Westwood One from 1988-1990, and writer/producer of hundreds of WW1 programs in the preceding five years. • His first music industry gig was as an Associate Editor at Cash Box magazine in Hollywood in 1975. He went on to be a Media Relations-PR executive for Capitol Records (1977-1980), Elektra/Asylum Records (1980-1983) and Rhino Entertainment (1992-1998). • Moving online, he was Rhino’s first web editor (1996-1998), then elevated to content editor of Warner Music Group websites (1998-2001). • In the Santa Clarita Valley just north of L.A., Peeples was the award-winning Online Editor for The Signal newspaper’s website from 2007-2011, and wrote-hosted-co-produced SCVTV’s WAVE-nominated “House Blend” local music TV show from 2010-2015 (archived online and still airing in reruns). • He is now a News Editor at SCVTV’s SCVNews.com, SVP/New Media Emeritus for Rare Cool Stuff Unltd. and developing a biography of Texas Artlaw Boyd Elder. For more info and original stories, visit https://stephenkpeeples.com/. For exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews, subscribe to Peeples’ YouTube channel.
Article: Debut Album by U.K. Band The Loft Club: Echoes of the Future
Category: News and Reviews
Author: Stephen K. Peeples
Article Source: stephenkpeeples.com
