LYNCH, ROB - Baby,I'm A Runaway (CD)

Rob Lynch wrote his debut full length, All These Nights In Bars Will Somehow Save My Soul, over the course of the seven years that preceded its 2014 release. The journey since has taken him on well-worn roads around Germany and all over the UK. There was a long, hot summer on the Warped Tour in North America, and there were inspiring nights spent sharing stages with Charlie Simpson, Thees Uhlmann and Augustines. There were huge, life-affirming weekends treading the boards at 2000 Trees, Groezrock and Slam Dunk Festivals, too. But in another sense, that journey has led to places that cannot be found on any map. It led to the ten songs that make up his new record; songs of self-assessment, songs of apology, songs of mourning, hope, love and growth. The young man who wrote the introspective, ultra-personal songs in search of a bar that would save his soul was looking even deeper now, with a whole new perspective and renewed passion. He beat himself up with words that reflected the flaws and failings he’d shied away from facing before, but he also found expressions of gratitude, joy and optimism, fuelled by the wealth of incredible memories, experiences and achievements he’d notched on his travels. He wrote songs about friendship, about family, and the ties that bind. He wrote about life in all its curious, challenging and brilliant splendour. Musically, this material demanded an expansion of the sound established on the first album. Enlisting the help of his good friends in his long-time live backing band, Jonny Ward (guitar), Tom Aylott (bass) and Charlie Thomas (drums), Rob once again recorded with Sam Duckworth (Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly / Recreations) and Jay Malhotra at Amazing Grace Studios in Hoxton, London. Rob’s friends in We Are The Ocean and Deaf Havana joined the crew in the studio for a couple of creative nights, lending their voices to some of the tracks on the album. Driven by the positivity and warmth that sparked the ideas, the sounds that emerged naturally envelop much poppier, more upbeat melodies, but never come at the expense of the intimacy and honesty that he’s made his stock in trade.