With their newest single, English dream hot off the press, post-punk quartet LUMER are becoming renowned for their ornate sound and unapologetic lyricism
We had the chance to chat to LUMER about there musical motivations, both within the music industry and within the shattered social systems that surround them, and how they transform their inspiration into an outrageously immersive musical paradise.
Tavie: First of all, what inspired you to write ‘English Dream’?
L: I think its something that came from nowhere really. I wrote and demoed it so quickly which is something for me that is so rare. Lyrically, I guess with the state of the country with the cost of living crisis and the fact at the time I didn’t have a job at the time, it came from a place of anger to the continuing failures of our leaders.
Listen to ‘English Dream’ here:
Tavie: Let’s talk writing: Is there a creative process you follow when writing songs or does it differ every time?
L: There are two main ways we go about it, sometimes I write at home and demo the tracks how I hear it. Afterwards we’d mess around with it in the studio to get it to sound like us, I guess. The other way, which I think we all enjoy more, is to go straight to the studio and write around any ideas any of us bring to the table. Lyrically, I think it can be just singing nonsense over a track or something I’ve already written to make it work in the song.
Tavie: Who inspires your style?
L: I like to think we are inspired by a lot of different things. Generally, I say the 80’s post punk sound like The Fall, Birthday Party, etc. but yeah we all listen to all sorts of things which I think generally influences everything we do.
Tavie: I’m intrigued, where did the name LUMER come from?
L: It’s a rather boring story to be honest. We were all fans on My Bloody Valentine and wanted to be a shoegaze band. We named ourselves LUMER after the track ‘Loomer’. We changed to a ‘u’ as opposed to a ‘oo’ because there is no LUMER with out you. Oh and yeah we didn’t become a shoegaze band, in the slightest.
Tavie: Your lyrics in ‘English Dream’ are very socially and politically driven. If you could change anything about Britain’s systems right now what would it be?
L: Good question, what would anyone not change really? I think joining the EU would be a good start because I can’t think of a reason why it’s not a good thing. Also, give the public sector jobs the pay rise they deserve. A pay rise correlates to a better economy according to my rather limited knowledge of economical welfare. Lastly, give more support to people who are unemployed. Help them get a job and support them mentally because it’s a depressing time.
“It came from a place of anger to the continuing failures of our leaders“
Tavie: If you could collab with any artist who would it be?
L: I think someone like Julia Jacklin or Anika would be class. Also, PVA doing something cool to one of our tracks would be lovely. Big fan of them, so would be great for them to remix something of ours. Crack Cloud too, they are really great people and would love to work with them on something as we are all big fans.
Tavie: So what’s next for Lumer?
L: We sort of made a pledge to release more and give more really. We’ve always had such a gap between releases and we are changing that. Maybe an EP. Maybe an LP. Maybe we all fall out and never speak again. Time will tell I guess.
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