Late to the Flight

LUMP is a joint project between singer-songwriter Laura Marling and Mike Lindsay of the folk/electronica outfit Tunng. The self-titled album was birthed in the summer of 2016 when they were introduced backstage during a Neil Young concert in London. Lindsay asked Marling if she fancied doing some recording, but didn't anticipate such an instant reaction, as within three days they were in a studio together. "I didn't expect you to say yes, Lindsay admitted to Marling, when the pair both spoke to Q Magazine. "So I didn't have that much music prepared." The one track Lindsay did bring with him was "Late to the Flight," the opening track of their self titled album, which finds Marling singing of a man, perhaps the LUMP character they've created, dreaming about their own death and public persona. You look like a crooner in crisis. Shaking your hips like a tart Lindsay told Q: "I guess if I'm writing a Laura Marling song, then it's something to do with Laura Marling. But this was much easier because you don't have to associate it with your own persona. I tried to install little strange vignettes in the music. It was nice... liberating."

So who is this LUMP character Marling and Lindsay created? The cover of the album shows a furry humanoid, which because the name is in capital letters, one presumes LUMP is an acronym for something mysterious. However, Marling told Q Magazine, the duo's name actually has more modest origins. "My 5 year old goddaughter came up with it," she said. "I asked her what we should call the band. She said it very loud it, so that's why it's in capital letters."