Photo Credit: Ben Cannon
The Darker the Shadow, The Brighter The Light https://streets.lnk.to/TDTSTBT
(October 13, 2023) - Today, celebrated producer, vocalist, and DJ Mike Skinner releases his highly anticipated new album The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light. Across the 15 tracks of The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light, Mike Skinner presents a classic Streets album, one that is inextricably linked to the dance floor, with tidal waves of bass, garage, and house laced in, an experience akin to stumbling through different rooms of the club. Skinner, as always, is the keen eye tying his disparate world together, shining with his customary lyrical wizardry and eclectic production.
"Too Much Yayo" opens The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light with subtle two-step rhythms that cascade into rampant four-to-the-floor bass, setting the pace with its lyrical bird eye view of chaos in the club, the type of chaos that might send some of us, especially Skinner, on an adventure. "Walk Of Shame" shines with melancholic acoustic guitar riffs as he utters one of the album’s essential epitaphs: “The walk of shame is my daily commute.” Elsewhere, "Shake Hands With Shadows" slowly morphs from hopeful piano keys and bass drums to an airy finish as Skinner’s stream of consciousness runs wild, with lines as poignant as “You make plans with morons, you’re powerless to misfortune.” This commitment to calamity is both the album and film’s beating heart, while the title track transports you to the decadence of the Roaring 20's with its dusty, swing motif, a quaint detour from the sliding club music that dominates the sounds. By album closer "Good Old Daze," the metaphorical party is over, with sunlight creeping into the sky as Skinner takes stock of yet another wild adventure, destined to repeat the madness that has formed his life.
Skinner has just finished touring UK Everyman Cinemas with his self-directed debut feature film of the same name. The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light film is a tripped-out noir murder mystery based in London’s clubland. Skinner has written, directed, shot, edited, scored, funded, and even created his own special effects on the film, shooting at a number of different locations in 2022 across the UK. The songs on the album soundtrack the film and also play the role of narrator of the film at times - and while neither the album nor film exists without each other - both can be enjoyed separately.
Through sheer will, Skinner has realized his ambition for The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light, taking what was a finished album and breathing an entire film into it. For one of the UK’s most legendary and consistent voices of the 21st century, a new creative level has been reached, on his own terms. The album is being supported by a full, headline The Streets tour across the United Kingdom, commencing in late October, with support from Hak Baker, Joy Anonymous, and Master Peace, dates below.
About The Streets: The Streets broke through in 2002 with the Mercury Prize nominated Original Pirate Material – widely regarded as one of the most influential British albums of recent times, whose impact on culture and UK music can still be felt to this day. Four BRIT Award nominations for Best Album, Best Urban Act, Best Breakthrough Artist, and Best British Male Solo Artist followed. “Dry Your Eyes,” from 2005 follow-up album A Grand Don’t Come For Free, won an Ivor Novello for Best Song Musically And Lyrically. Skinner additionally received a BRIT Award that same year, for best British Male Solo Artist.
Since then, The Streets have released further LPs The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (2006), Everything Is Borrowed (2008), Computer and Blues (2011), and 2020’s mixtape None Of Us Are Getting Out of This Alive. Skinner has collaborated with a who's who of British music – from Kano to Fred Again, Greentea Peng, and Giggs. In recent years, and with his Mike Skinner LTD label, he’s worked with artists at the tip of the spear of breaking British music, with acts like FLOHIO, Ghetts, and Grim Sickers.
An inimitable live performer with bountiful experience both behind the decks and on the microphone, Skinner is renowned for his boisterous onstage presence and ability to grip audiences from crowded basements to Glastonbury headline slots. Whether it’s a live-streamed lockdown performance or a garage and bass-line DJ set, Skinner commands the stage with undeniable presence and a quintessentially British tongue-in-cheek attitude. When The Streets announced a comeback tour in 2017, tickets for the dates sold out in less than a minute. It’s all a testament to the impact The Streets have had, and continue to have, across several generations of musicians and fans alike. | 
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