LA-based singer, songwriter and producer Luke Sital-Singh brings his new album 'Dressing Like A Stranger' to The Leadmill later this month

It’s a decade since Luke Sital-Singh released his debut single, “Fail For You,” introducing the world to his rare ability to craft songs rich in empathy and emotional resonance. Often referred to as the purveyor of the ‘sad song’, Luke Sital-Singh has the genre of empathetic music tied up, complete with a bow.

After a period of time living in Los Angeles, Sital-Singh is once again hitting the road to showcase a series of headline performances for his latest album. Speaking to The Star’s Chris Hallam ahead of his performance later this month at The Leadmill on Friday, September 30, 2022, Luke Sital-Singh spilled the beans why sad songs just work for him, surviving the pandemic from a mental-health perspective, how he managed to remain creative in such strange times, and why you just can’t beat the comfort-food from back home. Oh, and he’s just released a new album titled ‘Dressing Like A Stranger’.

You can listen to the podcast in full on the Chris Talks Music Podcast, subscribe here: https://anchor.fm/chris-talks-music

‘Dressing Like A Stranger’ which was released on 2 September, 2022, is the follow-up to 2019′s well-received LP ‘A Golden State’, which preceded his move to Los Angeles.

His recently released album was written and recorded in California, with Luke initially working alone at home in Los Feliz as COVID-19 descended upon the world. He later rented a studio and cut a few songs by himself before enlisting fellow Brit and singer-songwriter Dan Croll as co-producer and Tchad Blake (Fiona Apple, The Black Keys, Elvis Costello) for mixing.

Over three acclaimed albums including the likes of ‘The Fire Inside’, ‘Time Is A Riddle’, and ‘A Golden State’ the qualities contained within each of these musical journeys have garnered Luke quite an impressive worldwide fanbase, which has seen his songs rack up well over 150 million Spotify streams. But that’s not all, Luke’s music is frequently used in TV shows, ranging from US drama series like Suits, Grey’s Anatomy and New Amsterdam to popular UK shows like Made In Chelsea and Love Island. He has even toured with the likes of Angus and Julia Stone, Martha Wainwright, and The Staves — he even led his own TED Talk at the official TED Conference in Vancouver, which you can see here: https://www.ted.com/talks/luke_sital_singh_afterneath_killing_me?subtitle=en

“I love collaboration,” Luke explains.

“When I started this album, I missed that part of the process. Dan enjoys the puzzle of music. He’ll have so many different versions of songs, whereas I’m more instinctual. It was nice to have Dan say, ‘We don’t need this!’ Dan saw the music from a bird’s eye view, maintained the momentum, figured out the puzzle, and pushed me to do more takes than I would’ve alone.”

At the same time, he unearthed some much-needed inspiration in a new instrument. A rubber-bridge guitar opened up the floodgates for Luke. He penned the title track “Dressing Like A Stranger” with the guitar and embraced it as his very own personal creative north star.

“‘Dressing Like A Stranger’ was the first song I wrote, and it unlocked the whole album,” he recalls.

“The guitar has a very specific sound. I didn’t want just to do another ‘singer-songwriter acoustic’ thing. My first album was a shiny pop record, the second album was rawer, and my third album was more lyrical. The sound of the guitar was how I felt now.”

He even shared insight into his recording process for this new album,

"Because of Covid, it wasn’t going to happen how I wanted it to happen. I couldn’t just go into a studio. I like to disappear for two weeks with some musicians and really delve into the music, it’s something I really enjoy but it just wasn’t going to pan out that way. And I needed to do it on a much more low-key and DIY sort of way, so I ended up getting another friend of mine, Dan Croll, who is another ex-pat Brit who lives out here. He kind of helped me put the album together and we just disappeared.”

With the help of two new LA-based musical partners - his fellow British national Dan Croll and a rubber bridge guitar from the city's Old Style Guitar Shop - Sital-Singh emerged with what he describes as "my most personal record yet."

In addition to his work with Croll, Luke also worked with multi-platinum star Christina Perri who duets on the wonderful track, Rather Be. The new album also includes a collaboration between Sital-Singh and frequent songwriting partner Ben Cramer (Old Sea Brigade) - "Can't Get High" - which follows up the pair's 2020 collaborative EP All The Ways You Sing In The Dark and the breakout single "Call Me When You Land" — which boasts over 20 million Spotify streams to date.

Recently though, Luke Sital-Singh has been supporting Passenger on his European Tour in August and through September before embarking on his very own headline UK tour, which starts in Bristol at The Fleece on September 25 and culminates at London’s Lafayette on October 9.

Dressing Like A Stranger was released on September 2, 2022, via Nettwerk Records and is available from all good record stores, via his website: https://www.lukesitalsingh.com/ and obviously on all streaming services.

Luke Sital-Singh will be performing at The Leadmill on Friday, 30 September, 2022. You can buy tickets for his gig here: https://theleadmill.seetickets.com/event/luke-sital-singh/the-leadmill/2328583

You can listen to the podcast in full on the Chris Talks Music Podcast, subscribe here: https://anchor.fm/chris-talks-music