Rotterdam four piece Lewsberg announce UK tour
New album Out And About out now
14/06 The Hope And Ruin, Brighton
15/06 TBA, Bristol
16/06 National Justice Museum, Nottingham
17/06 Common Ground, Oxford
18/06 The Lexington, London
19/06 Future Yard, Liverpool
20/06 YES Basement, Manchester
21/06 The Glad Cafe, Glasgow
22/06 Wharf Chambers, Leeds
23/06 Elsewhere, Margate
Following the release of their fourth studio album and their first North American tour last year, Dutch four-piece Lewsberg are preparing to hit the road again, playing a string of UK dates in June 2024.
Since forming in 2016, Lewsberg have gone from strength to strength. Despite never really considering themselves as a ‘productive band’, together they have released four LPs, one EP and a series of cassettes and 7”s including 2022’s ‘Six Hills’ which was released via Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground single series.
Lewsberg are named after writer and fellow Rotterdammer Robert Loesberg, famous for his dangerous novel Enige Defecten from 1974. This is one of the band’s main sources of inspiration: the counterculture and big-city cynicism of the 1960s and 1970s. Yet there is also a softer side to Lewsberg’s music and lyrics. On their new album Out And About, this side is more present than ever. Rudimentary pop and rock songs are deliberately kept bare, only occasionally embellished with a violin or organ part. In the lyrics, the tendency towards existentialism and black humour is nuanced with an almost naive openness and engagement.
Recorded in Amsterdam in Spring 2023 with producer Yulya Divakova, Out And About sees founding members Shalita Dietrich (vocals, bass guitar), Michiel Klein (guitar) and Arie van Vliet (vocals, guitar, violin) joined for the first time on record by drummer and vocalist Marrit Meinema, who joined the band in the Autumn of 2021.
“Our first two records were pretty much our take on the music and literature that Arie and I had been talking about for years,” says guitarist Michiel. “Our third album, In Your Hands, was about keeping things small, quiet and intimate, partly in reaction to some of the unease we occasionally felt when Lewsberg was being lumped in with these muscular testosterone filled rock bands,” he continues. “For this album I was inspired by how I saw the personalities in the band when we became a quartet again, with the addition of Marrit,” he continues.
Out And About embraces a collaborative spirit, allowing each member to contribute their unique songwriting talents. The result is a collection of tracks that capture the band's collective creative energy and their individual perspectives. Compared to their first three albums, Out And About feels lighter, calling to mind the laid back sound of bands like The Feelies, Marine Girls and Young Marble Giants, whilst remaining distinctly Lewsberg.
Praise for Out And About
"On Out and About, Lewsberg are self-possessed, in touch with their aesthetic. They write songs that are funny, sweet, and weird." Pitchfork
"Clear, uncluttered, minimally adorned, it works in different measures to the usual."
Uncut
"Their newer, “quieter” music is seductive. A sound world that gets into your head like a good short story." The Quietus
"What makes Out and About so appealing is its trickster quality, the secret depth so easily overlooked, like a hidden smile that crosses the face, only noticeable by those who notice such things." Bandcamp
"Out and About is a textbook example of a stay-at-home Sunday morning record and a wonderful one at that." Brooklyn Vegan
"An infectious offering, ‘Out And About’ shines a light on the band’s unified creativity."
Clash
