ORLANDO WEEKS announces new album ‘LOJA’, releases single ‘Dig’ feat. Wet Leg’s Rhian Teasdale
April 30, 2024
ORLANDO WEEKS
NEW ALBUM ‘LOJA’ TO BE RELEASED JUNE 6TH (FICTION RECORDS/VIRGIN)
FIRST SINGLE ‘DIG’ FEAT. RHIAN TEASDALE OF WET LEG OUT NOW PREMIERED ON BBC 6MUSIC
IMMERSIVE EXHIBITION & LIVE RESIDENCY AT LONDON COPELAND GALLERY, JUNE 6TH-9TH
PREVIEW THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR “DIG” HERE.
Orlando Weeks’ forthcoming new album ‘LOJA’ (Portuguese for ‘store’) was written in both London and Lisbon. Recording began in earnest in January 2023 at the beautiful Chale Abbey Studios with longtime live collaborator Sergio Maschetzko (Black Country, New Road), supported by co-producer and engineer David Granshaw. In its latter stages, Nathan Jerkins a/k/a Bullion contributed additional production and mixing.
Lead single ‘Dig’, featuring Rhian Teasdale of Wet Leg, is 3 minutes of half argument, long worn-out promises being remade and road weary offences being retaken. The record features a number of other key collaborators including Katy J Pearson, Tony Njoku, Oliver Hamilton of the band Caroline and Alejandro Aranda a/k/a Scary Pool Party.
The core musical contributions come from long standing live collaborators Sami El-Enany, Luca Caruso, William Doyle and Alexander Painter. A love letter to his new home, lyrically ‘LOJA’ toys with both the fantastical and stark realism. There are sleeping giants in Track 2’s ‘Best Night’ and the final song on the album, ‘Beautiful Place’, tells the story of a beach death. The novelty of a new city afforded Weeks the opportunity to romanticise his present and re-evaluate his past. The first live performances in over a year will be at London’s Copeland Gallery this June. During a 4 day/night residency, Weeks will preview music from ‘LOJA’ alongside an exhibition of the prints and drawings that are the accompanying visual aspect of the album.
Orlando says, “The great change in our lives was that we left London and moved to Lisbon, and the record definitely has elements of being a love letter to the place that we now call home. But I think the move provided a stirring of the waters. It threw up an awful lot of stuff and it gave us perspective and hindsight because suddenly there was distance. You can re-evaluate the things you were too close to, those things that there was no point spending time thinking about because it was the day-to-day bubble you were in.”
