When: 7pm on Saturday 26 October 2019
Where: Soup Kitchen, 31-33 Spear Street, Manchester M1 1DF

We’re delighted to be working with Francis Lung.

Manchester’s own Francis Lung, the nom de plume of former Wu Lyf member Tom McClung, releases his new single I Wanna Live In My Dreams. his debut release for Memphis Industries, where he joins the likes of the Go! Team, Poliça, Field Music, it comes with a gorgeously intricate self-produced video.

Following on from the home-recorded Volumes 1 + 2 EPs, which contained titbits written during his time in Wu Lyf, I Wanna Live In My Dreams sees Francis Lung return with a bigger, more expansive sound. Recorded at Low Four Studios with Brendan Williams (Dutch Uncles, Go Go Penguin) on production duties, it’s a baroque pop rocket that signals Francis Lung’s new-found ambitions.

The video, crafted over four months by Francis, follows a young boy who falls asleep and turns into his dream alter-ego ‘Ghostface’, as Tom explains:

‘Ghostface is a character I’ve been drawing for years, but I’ve never been quite sure why. I thought it would be nice to give him some purpose by creating this story about him. I’ve never made anything like this before but for some foolish reason I thought it would be a good idea to spend four months of my life learning how to animate. It’s a combination of stop motion, keyframe and hand-drawn animation and it’s made up of thousands upon thousands of frames. I nearly pulled out all my hair making it.

‘The song is an homage to the Ronettes – written when I was in love with sleeping and found it very hard to do much else. There are obvious allusions to suicide here and eternal sleep, but to me it’s more about an alternate reality than being death-obsessed.’

Support comes from Butcher The Bar. Butcher The Bar is the once bedroom pop recording project of Joel Nicholson, now a five-piece guitar band based in Manchester. Releasing two records via Berlin based indie label Morr Music – Sleep At Your Own Speed (2008) and For Each A Future Tethered (2011) – Joel has taken Butcher The Bar across Europe and UK solo, as a duo, and a full band, playing venues large and small in places far and wide. After eight years, they have recently released a third LP, III – the first BtB album to feature a full band.

Buy tickets now. Tickets are available from the bar (no booking fee), Vinyl Exchange, WeGotTickets.com, Ticketline.co.uk and on 0871 220 0260.

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