UK Folk-Punks Skinny Lister Return With New Album, "A Matter Of Life & Love," Out On Friday

UK FOLK-PUNKS SKINNY LISTER RETURN WITH NEW ALBUM  A MATTER OF LIFE & LOVE OUT ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22 VIA XTRA MILE RECORDINGS A MATTER OF LIFE & LOVE WRITTEN, PRODUCED, RECORDED  AND MIXED ENTIRELY BY SKINNY LISTER MUSIC VIDEO FOR FIRST SINGLE, “DAMN THE AMSTERDAM”  (FEAT. THE LONGEST JOHNS), NOW STREAMING ON YOUTUBE WATCH: “DAMN THE AMSTERDAM” (MUSIC VIDEO ON YOUTUBE)

Beloved British folk-punk band Skinny Lister are back with their fifth studio album titled A Matter Of Life & Love (pre-order). Out on Friday, October 22 via Xtra Mile Recordings, A Matter Of Life & Love ushers in an exciting new chapter in the band’s long and established career. An album about camaraderie and companionship through thick and thin, to cherishing the simple things freedom brings, A Matter Of Life & Love finds a band brimming with a zest for life, love, music and good times. Frontman Dan Heptinstall had the following to share about the album:

“It’s great to have made it to album number five, and we can’t wait to see what further adventures lay in store for us as we get it out there on the road and into the world! This has been a very liberating experience, not only allowing us to employ all that we’ve learnt from the top producers of our previous four albums, but also truly realise our own vision of the tracks. We’re very proud of the results.”

Photo credit: Sara-Louise Bowrey

A band who shantied long before TikTok ticked, “Damn The Amsterdam,” the album’s first single featuring salty guest harmonies courtesy of folk pin-ups The Longest Johns, harks a return to the original rootsy Skinny Lister sound. Written about the famous Hastings shipwreck, it’s a straight-up sea shanty that echoes the style and stomp of “John Kanaka” from their first album, Forge & Flagon. Watch the music video for “Damn The Amsterdam” on YouTube HERE and stream the song on all platforms HERE.  Written over the past 18 months, Skinny Lister’s new album, A Matter Of Life & Love, is in essence a collection of true stories and feelings that have really “mattered” to them. While the album contains all the typically enlivening tales from the road that have made Skinny Lister the stuff of festival legend—from disturbing touring tales of being pulled over by Bavarian police (“Bavaria Area") to full throttle airport drinking songs (“Breakfast At Heathrow”)—dig deeper and you’ll find a record that might well be their most personal and profound yet.  The centerpiece to the album and title track stands at the very heart of the album. Crystallizing the record’s core themes with a Madness-esque playfulness, it’s a poppy and poignant reminder to recognize the moments in life that really matter, however trivial or throwaway they may seem at the time. The Skinnies’ admirable “in this together” ethos is echoed through stirring anthems such as “Shout It Out” and “Shoulder To Shoulder,” which offer rousing singalongs primed and ready for a new age of live music.  Skinny Lister’s adept ability for a heartstring plucking ballad also remains evident in tracks such as “Embers,” an elegant folky composition led by Lorna Thomas and destined to make Skinny fans everywhere crumble. Elsewhere, the Celtic-tinged, string-adorned gem “Bonny’s Eyes” offers a touching tribute to the wonder of being a new parent.   Bringing together all of their influences and styles, from ska to rock and from folk-punk to traditional shanty, A Matter Of Life & Love is in many ways the distillation of everything that has seen the world fall for Skinny Lister’s charms. And yet, as the first record to be entirely written, produced, recorded and mixed by Skinny Lister themselves, it finds a band with a bolstered sense of confidence and a gleeful skip in their stride. Proving a unique opportunity for the band to create, experiment, and hone music of their own volition, it’s a process that finds a band in liberated form and realizing the full Skinny Lister vision as they have always intended it.

A Matter Of Life & Love track listing: Shout It Out Tough Stuff Like Us Like It’s The First Time  Damn The Amsterdam ft. The Longest Johns A Matter Of Life & Love Embers Shoulder To Shoulder Bavaria Area Bonny’s Eyes Life At A Loose End Breakfast At Heathrow History

A Matter Of Life & Love album cover art