Skinny Lister announced a new album this morning and it’s going to be called A Matter Of Life & Love. It will be released on Xtra Mile Recordings and come out October 22nd. Their first single “Damn The Amsterdam” also premiered today and it was written about the famous Hastings shipwreck, it’s a straight-up sea shanty which echoes the style and stomp of “John Kanaka” from their first album Forge & Flagon. The song features The Longest Johns, who they will be joining on tour in November and December.

Listen to the new track now here.

Written over the past 18 months, Skinny Lister’s new album ‘A Matter Of Life & Love’ is in essence a collection of true stories and feelings that have really ‘mattered’ to them.

While the album contains all the typically enlivening tales from the road that have made Skinny Lister the stuff of festival legend, from disturbing touring tales of being pulled over by Bavarian police (‘Bavaria Area’) to full throttle airport drinking songs (‘Breakfast At Heathrow’); dig deeper and you’ll find a record that might well be their most personal and profound yet.

Centrepiece and title-track, ‘A Matter Of Life & Love’, stands at the very heart of the album. Crystallising the record’s core themes with a Madness-esque playfulness, it’s a poppy and poignant reminder to recognise the moments in life that really matter, however trivial or throwaway they may seem at the time. “It’s a sentiment likely borne out of those months of enforced limited social contact endured over the past few months” reflects Dan. And one not likely to be taken for granted by anyone, or any band for that matter, any time soon.

The Skinnies’ admirable ‘in this together’ ethos is echoed through stirring anthems such as ‘Shout It Out’ and ‘Shoulder To Shoulder’, which offer rousing singalongs primed and ready for a new age of live music. Skinny Lister’s adept ability for a heartstring plucking ballad also remains evident in tracks such as ‘Embers’, an elegant folky composition led by Lorna and destined to make Skinny fans everywhere crumble. Elsewhere, the celtic-tinged, string-adorned gem ‘Bonny’s Eyes’ offers a touching tribute to the wonder of being a new parent.

Bringing together all their influences and styles, from ska to rock and from folk-punk to traditional shanty, throughout its 12 tracks ‘A Matter Of Life & Love’ is in many ways the distillation of everything that has seen the world fall for Skinny Lister’s charms. And yet, as the first record to be entirely written, produced, recorded and mixed by Skinny Lister themselves, it finds a band with a bolstered sense of confidence and a gleeful skip in their stride. Proving a unique opportunity for the band to create, experiment, and hone music of their own volition, it’s a process that finds a band in liberated form and realising the full Skinny Lister vision as they have always intended it.

Dan Heptinstall talked about the new album:

“It’s great to have made it to album number 5, and we can’t wait to see what further adventures lay in store for us as we get it out there on the road and into the world!… This has been a very liberating experience, not only allowing us to employ all that we’ve learnt from the top producers of our previous four albums, but also truly realise our own vision of the tracks. We’re very proud of the results.”

Tracklist:
Shout It Out
Tough Stuff Like Us
Like It’s The First Time
Damn The Amsterdam ft. The Longest Johns
A Matter Of Life & Love
Embers
Shoulder To Shoulder
Bavaria Area
Bonny’s Eyes
Life At A Loose End
Breakfast At Heathrow
History

Live Shows:
SEPTEMBER
3rd – Hull Bonus Arena supporting Frank Turner
19th – London, Roundhouse supporting Frank Turner

HEADLINE TOUR with special guests The Longest Johns supporting except *
NOVEMBER
11th – Oxford Academy 2
12th – Norwich Art Centre
13th – Cardiff Globe
18th – Bristol Fleece *
19th – Manchester Gorilla SOLD OUT
20th – Birmingham Institute 2
24th – Leeds The Wardrobe
25th – Nottingham Rescue Room
26th – Newcastle Cluny
27th – Glasgow King Tuts *
DECEMBER
10th – Southampton 1865
11th – London Garage SOLD OUT *

SUPPORTING LESS THAN JAKE
MARCH
31st – Glasgow O2 Academy
APRIL
1st – Newcastle O2 Academy
2nd – Leeds O2 Academy
3rd – Manchester O2 Ritz
5th – Leicester O2 Academy
6th – Birmingham O2 Institute
7th – Bournemouth O2 Academy
8th – Bristol O2 Academy
9th – London Forum

HEADLINE TOUR IN GERMANY
JUNE
1st – Cologne, Luxor
2nd – Munich, Strom
3rd – Berlin, Hole44
4th – Hamburg, Knust