A press release states that "The intricate production, playing, arrangements, songwriting and broad-ranging instrumentation all indicate an outfit at their most purposeful and assured best. Alongside an audible new creative peak tied together by a distinct theme, The Leisure Society’s acclaimed prior trademarks are still present - namely Nick Hemming’s intensely personal and honest lyrics which adorn the band’s warm, timeless, seamless blend of folk, grandiose pop and indie."
“‘The Fine Art of Hanging On’ is a recurrent, linking theme, although this wasn’t an intentional concept album”, explains Nick. “It’s about clinging to something - be that a relationship, a career, or life itself. All the way through writing the album a friend of mine was battling cancer. I reached out by sending him the rough demos of this album. By giving him this access to the work in progress and by him giving feedback, we formed a close bond. Sadly he lost his battle, but his input and presence is there in the album.”
Nick grew up in Burton-on-Trent. As a teenager he formed the indie band She Talks To Angels with his art college friend, director Shane Meadows plus the actor Paddy Considine. Following the band’s split, Nick was scooped up by local indie hopes The Telescopes, who were signed to Creation Records. Shane Meadows remained a supporter, hiring Nick to score 1999’s A Room For Romeo Brass and 2004’s Dead Man’s Shoes, but Nick was losing his confidence. By the mid 2000s, he hadn’t sung in front of anyone for years. Everything changed with the arrival of fellow Burton-on-Trent exile Christian Hardy, the outgoing yin to Nick’s shy, reserved yang. The Leisure Society was born and developed rapidly, with an initial landmark being the single ‘The Last Of The Melting Snow’, which was championed by Radcliffe and Maconie on Radio 2 and Elbow’s Guy Garvey on 6Music. Within months of its release, Nick had been nominated for an Ivor Novello award, to rapturous media attention. The band’s world was to keep changing as the snowball kept rolling. The album Into The Murky Water was re-released on Full Time Hobby and became a slow-burn success story. Along with packing out a tent at Glastonbury, they released their third album 'Alone Aboard The Ark' in 2013 to more critical acclaim.
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