EP closer ‘Eden’ begins with a sonic dreamscape that makes good on the idyllic allusions of its title. Don’t get too comfortable though - as is so often the case in Middle England, there’s aggro and angst lurking behind those psychedelic sitars. 
 
Buoyed by some deliciously scuzzy guitar licks, ‘Eden’ soon curdles into another circuit-fried roller reminiscent of the most brazen and stylistically adventurous figures of the 90s - Garbage, Suede and Skunk Anansie to name a few. Plus, that chorus will do nicely on both the terraces and the mainstage.

The Lucky EP

Old Town Sound

Eden

Lucky Jones, the masked vocalist of the weirdo brigade that is Middle England, gets the better of himself on ‘Old Town Sound’. The verse, all grainy bedroom-punk guitar loops and wistful bars about the listlessness of city life, is a pretty apt representation of how he’s feeling these days.
 
However, as much as he wants to lay low, he can’t help himself on the chorus - that sing-a-long chant which rises up out of nowhere and grabs hold of ‘Old Town Sound’ is something even Lucky can’t deny.

Buoyed by an instrumental which recalls the cartoon dubbiness of Gorillaz circa-’19-2000’, ‘Tongue Tied’ seems to announce that it’s party time in Middle England. However, even with the drinks flowing, Middle England’s Lucky Jones still can’t get a handle on one of his biggest hang-ups - basic human interaction.
 
It’s not that he hasn’t got the gift of the gab - the wry lyrical turns here are testament to the fact that Lucky does indeed have the knack in this department. It’s just that, when he’s around other people, words always fail him somehow. It’s all very frustrating, if you know what I mean ...

Lyrics:

Liar liar, lie her down on a bed of nails
Guess I gotta do something
Why am I not setting sail
At the push of a button
Want her data but her WIFI never fails
Can't connect or nothing
Feels like I'm walking on eggshells
And these legs they go down to the bottom
My little eye spies all the details
Yeah I got them
Well bitten gonna put it in my bag of nails
Yeah I got a real problem
Wonder why I'm so shy around females
I can't connect or nothing
Feels like I'm walking on eggshells
And these legs they go down to the bottom

We'll get down to the bottom of them
We'll get down to the bottom
We'll get down to the bottom of them
We'll get down to the bottom
We'll get down to the bottom of them
We'll get down to the bottom
Everybody's got 'em
And everyone wants to get down

Tongue tied
I'm waiting till the moments right
I'll be waiting 'til the morning light
I'm waiting on the other side
You got me tongue tied

So the other day you're looking for me
I should have said something
Couldn't work out what I wanted to be
I thought she was bluffing
Now you're giving me the third degree
Girl, I just wanna say something
Feels like I'm walking on eggshells
And these legs they go down to the bottom

Now you said you never want to hear from me
So how we getting down to the bottom
Now you said you never want to hear from me
So how we getting down to the bottom
Now you said you never want to hear from me
So how we getting down to the bottom
Now you said you never want to hear from me
So how we getting down

Tongue tied
I'm waiting till the moments right
I'll be waiting 'til the morning light
I'm waiting on the other side
You got me tongue tied

I can't get no sleep
It ain't like my life gets too deep
Out of weed, seen 4OD
And all that shit on the BBC
For the last 4 weeks, will I last 4 weeks
Riz-La-Croix Silver, last 4 sheets
Whole new direction in my last 4 beats
Like a fat kid, I'm greedy with my last 4 sweets

But I
I can't get no sleep, ain't like my life gets to deep
I can't get no sleep, ain't like my life gets to deep
I can't get no sleep, ain't like my life gets to deep
I can't get no sleep, I can't get no sleep

Tongue tied, (I can't get no sleep, I can't get no sleep)
I'm waiting till the moments right, (I can't get no sleep, I can't get no sleep)
I'll be waiting 'til the morning light, (I can't get no sleep, I can't get no sleep)
I'm waiting on the other side, (I can't get no sleep, I can't get no sleep)
You got me tongue tied

(I can't get no sleep, I can't get no sleep)
I'm waiting till the moments right, (I can't get no sleep, I can't get no sleep)
I'll be waiting 'til the morning light, (I can't get no sleep, I can't get no sleep)
I'm waiting on the other side, (I can't get no sleep, I can't get no sleep)
You got me tongue tied

Tongue Tied

The robotic vocal hook on which ‘Submarine’ hinges is disorienting - much like life in Middle England, as a matter of fact. Here we find Lucky Jones turning himself inside-out over a bug-eyed electro stomp, struggling to stay afloat as the water rises all around him. In fact, he’s going under right now ...
 
… But Lucky soon finds that there is life below the surface. Through the dark waters he can see light above him. Seems like the only way from here is up - the question is, does he give up or does he keep swimming?

Submarine

You know the feeling? That sense of the world slipping away from you, of your life sliding out of your control? Of understanding and patience giving way to fear and anger?
 
It’s horrible isn’t it. Makes your stomach churn. 
 
‘Honestly’, the debut single from Middle England, bottles that feeling and sets it to an instrumental which recalls an alternate three kings - King Tubby, King Krule and King Crimson - duking it out in the back room of a south London pub.

Honestly

Lockdown Loops Vol. 1 - Running 

Featuring: Middle England, Squire, Gavin Macinally, Luke Cheeseman & Mackiek

Lockdown Loops is a collaborative project set up by Middle England to help keep us sane during these dark days of Lockdown.

The rules are simple - a group of musicians start with a key, a set BPM and a single starter loop. From there each goes their own way and creates their own loops for the project - completely blind to everyone else's input.

Running

Lockdown Loops Vol. 1 - Butterfly

Featuring: Middle England, Squire, Carmen Keating, The Sax Man, Harry Simmonds, Cheeseman, Maciek

Lockdown Loops is a collaborative project set up by Middle England to help keep us sane during these dark days of Lockdown.

The rules are simple - a group of musicians start with a key, a set BPM and a single starter loop. From there each goes their own way and creates their own loops for the project - completely blind to everyone else's input.

Butterfly

Lockdown Loops Vol. 1 - Lockdown Funk 

Featuring: Middle England, Cheeseman, Harry Simmonds, The Sax Man, Carmen Keating & Maciek

Lockdown Loops is a collaborative project set up by Middle England to help keep us sane during these dark days of Lockdown.

The rules are simple - a group of musicians start with a key, a set BPM and a single starter loop. From there each goes their own way and creates their own loops for the project - completely blind to everyone else's input.

Lockdown Funk

Featuring: Off-Peek, Squire, Carmen Keating, Danny Gillies, Harry Lincoln and Middle England

Lockdown Loops is a collaborative project set up by Middle England to help keep us sane during these dark days of Lockdown. 

The rules are simple - a group of musicians start with a key, a set BPM and a single starter loop. From there each goes their own way and creates their own loops for the project - completely blind to everyone else's input. 

At the end of the week all loops are sent to Middle England's: The Brain, who painstakingly stitches these loops together into one coherent track.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to present: Lockdown Loops Vol. 2

Feeling

Middle England X Pandora's Diary X Off Peek X Modero B

Lockdown Loops is a collaborative project set up by Middle England to help keep us sane during these dark days of Lockdown. 

The rules are simple - a group of musicians start with a key, a set BPM and a single starter loop. From there each goes their own way and creates their own loops for the project - completely blind to everyone else's input.

The Fear

Band of Hope & Glory 

Middle England is what you get when a group of misfits are thrown together on a small island that can’t stand itself. Moody, angry, caught between the desire to live life to the fullest and the sense of being beaten down by a world which regards you with suspicion and hatred - this is troubled music for troubled times, made by a bunch of people with little to lose and less left to live for.

Middle England’s music melts down a whole host of musical lineages for scrap. Punk - both the first-wave heroes of the 1970s and modern torch-bearers like Sleaford Mods - fights it out with hip-hop, dub, synth-pop and dancehall in Middle England’s instrumentals. The licks may be sweet and the choruses may be stirring, but there’s more than a pinch of grit in the oyster here.

Atop these grizzled beats, vocalist Lucky Jones delivers lyrics which pull at the threads of the UK’s troubled national psyche. Sometimes he’ll tackle these matters head on, railing against modern Britain’s hate-thy-neighbour culture; other approaches are more subtle, his street-level poetry and introspective flights of fancy offering something like escape from the everyday insanity of … well, of Middle England.

​

Middle England

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