Lein Sangster

Launch gig to celebrate Lein Sangster?s debut solo album In Spite of Everything , The Stars which is released on June 6th on Chemin de Fer Records.
About Lein Sangster
East London-via-Liverpool singer-songwriter Lein Sangster presents their solo debut album In Spite of Everything, The Stars. Full of beautifully crafted and elegant pop laments woven with heartfelt passion, effortless melody and flying hooks. It moves from the melancholic to the celebratory whilst effortlessly weaving lush hues of jazz, folk, soul, RnB, and even some Spaghetti Western and mariachi inspired tones.

It follows an industrious music career at first fronting the cool as f**k Scouse 80?s legends and John Peel-approved KIT before releasing two albums under the musical guise Bad Anorak 404 who had fans in the likes of the late and great Mark E. Smith and critical acclaim, particularly for the second album All In Miniature (2006), its blend of classic compositions with odd pop DIY experimentation had Uncut hail it ?An intrepid, boundlessly rewarding delight.?

Sangster?s debut offering In Spite of Everything, The Stars is a long time coming. It was no easy journey to get to this point, it?s safe to say a lot of life got in the way. Challenges both imaginable and not so, plus a dedication also on Sangster?s part to create an album that had the organic feel of a live performance. ?We rehearsed the songs to death to get them tight so they could be loose? explains Sangster. The record saw a further delay when the pandemic hit, followed in 2023 by the loss of Sangster?s father to suicide and the processing thereafter that resulted in the record being naturally put on hold. ?It has taken a while to come to terms with and move forward, I?m still processing but feel able to move forward now? they explain. ?So, we are here now in 2025 and it?s time to get this baby out for a sail.?

Journalist Paul du Noyer once said musicians from Liverpool had ?an innate ability to turn to rage into beauty? which seems so acutely apt in the case of In Spite of Everything, The Stars. Recorded in part at Sangster?s home studio whilst living back in their hometown at the time of recording, and at the city?s Whitewood Studios (which Sangster calls ?an analogue dream?), In Spite of Everything, The Stars is free of digital sheen. We?re gifted with an album which sounds immediately like a lost classic and as Sangster wanted, it?s warm and immediate, as if they were sat next to the listener on a sofa sharing their more intimate thoughts and experiences. It?s a notable ability of Sangster, to craft songs that sound like an effortless natural extension of themselves, with a natural story-telling gift.

Sangster brings the characters in their songs and their tales to life, their dark challenges told in blinding technicolour. They?re songs of people and their truth, including their own, presented in a way that feels both intimate and widescreen
In Spite of Everything, The Stars was recorded in part of Lein Sangster?s home studio, Liverpool and at the city?s Whitewood Studios by Rob Whiteley, recorded on an old desk and out to tape and back in into Pro tools. Like every great record, In Spite of Everything, The Stars is enriched by the sublime musicality of great musicians, in this case friends and family of Sangster aiding the album?s intimate feel. Sangster?s brother and Scouse bass legend Jim Sangster (who features on Black?s iconic Wonderful Life album) on bass and drummer and artist Tony Smith of their former band KIT behind the kit again. The album is also blessed by the string arrangements and performance of the accomplished Simmy Singh (Kaleidoscope Orchestra, Immix Ensemble)
Sangster will be performing with their new band who are Catherine Marshall Violin , Tom Dwyer Bass and Richard Eldridge Drums

Support comes from Reid Anderson fellow Scouse singer songwriter whose music has been described as melodic folk noir
www.reidandersonmusic.com/

Also gracing the night with cool vinyl record picks are Kim & Clive the DJs who founded the collective Vinyl Therapy .

The venue is easy to find its a short walk from Kings Cross station down a cobbled street off Grays Inn Road