A Chat with Lemonade Sin (11.08.24)
A songwriting project between two long-time friends, Lemonade Sin draws together the natural talent of musicians Simon Aldous and Lee Friese-Greene. Influenced by artists like Abba and The Velvet Underground, the UK-based pair traipse across several genres enchanting audiences with every beat. We speak to Lemonade Sin about their new album Deadly Sins, what music means to them, admitting deadly sins, and much more.
OSR: Lemonade Sin is the project of already experienced musicians. How do you feel previous experience with bands, musical preferences and cultures influenced your sound?
Aldous: After my previous band ended, I felt that if I was going to re-enter the world of show business, I wanted to do something markedly different. Having Lee as a collaborator achieves that, I think. It takes us both in different musical directions from those we might have gone in otherwise.
Friese-Greene: Over the years, I’ve learned to be more open-minded when writing new songs about how they might turn out; they don’t have to fit into some prescribed musical pigeonhole. I think I’m less precious and snobby than I was in my twenties about which bands we might sound like. People (including The Other Side Reviews) often mention that we’re quite cross-genre but ultimately all the songs come out sounding like Lemonade Sin which is great!
OSR: How did Lemonade Sin come together and what inspired you to create music as Lemonade Sin?
Friese-Greene: We’d been in a band together many years ago and kept in touch but we’d both been pretty musically inactive for a good decade, doing other things. Then I had an idea for a song I felt would suit Simon’s voice and asked him if he’d like to have a go at writing it together.
Aldous: I’d never written songs with someone else before and was a little freaked by the idea but in fact, it turned out really well. The song was called ‘Bumper Cars’, and we were so pleased with it, that we decided to write a batch of songs about different fairground rides, which we then recorded and released.
Friese-Greene: We were so happy with the results and how much fun it had been that we decided to keep writing together and also form a proper band so we could play live. And then Covid struck and no one could be in the same room together. We finally had our first rehearsal in May 2021, though in the meantime, we made our lockdown-inspired mini-album, Lost Days.
OSR: You recently released your album Deadly Sins. What can you tell us about it – its production and backstories?
Aldous & Friese-Greene: We find it helpful to have a common lyrical theme for an album, and having Sin as part of our band name led to the idea of writing songs based on the seven deadly sins.
We started off with a brainstorming session where we discussed each sin and what angles they suggested. Then we spent a day doing something called “immersive songwriting” where you cut off all distractions and just spend the time writing songs – some came out almost fully formed, others were nubs of ideas that were fleshed out over time, but at the end of that day, we had 10 of the 14 songs in various forms.
After that rapid start, there was a much slower evolution as we passed the songs back and forth, taught the band to play them, and knocked everything into shape.
Finally, we took the songs to Matt and Lucy Board, who have produced all our records from Lost Days onwards. They had a studio in Devon, which was great to go to, and they always have wonderful ideas. We recorded half the record there but then they moved from Devon to Sheffield, so we had to wait until they had set up a studio there. Plus they have their own band, Pale Blue Eyes, who were doing a lot of touring, so we had to wait a while before we could finish our album.
So the production has been a long process though we think the songs have benefited from that time. We’d like to be a bit faster on the next one though.
OSR: If you had to admit to one of the seven deadly sins yourself, which would it be?
Friese-Greene: Gluttony for me. More is more as far as I’m concerned! Is too much of a good thing really a bad thing? Better to not stop ’til you get enough, and then keep going for even more. (Wrath is a close second.)
Aldous: Envy is probably the one I’m most susceptible to, even though I know it’s very pointless and negative. I envy Lee for being able to revel in her sinfulness. I envy Lee for having a far more fun sin than my boring one.
OSR: What does music mean to you?
Aldous & Friese-Greene: Music is amazing. Like all art, it’s about a life beyond merely existing. It keeps us sane, it’s a way of experiencing collective joy.
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OSR: You began releasing music a few years back. Is Deadly Sins an accurate representation of your band’s sound at the moment?
Friese-Greene: Yes, although the fact that it’s taken three years to complete means that I think the next album’s going to be (even) better because with each project we are honing our joint songwriting and arrangement skills, trusting each other more and pushing ourselves to make every song as good as it can.
OSR: What makes Lemonade Sin unique?
Aldous & Friese-Greene: We’re not the only band which has a joint male/female songwriters but it’s a key part of what we are and the different perspectives we bring to things. And sonically, we take that into the way we share the vocals.
OSR: If you had to recommend one song to a new listener, which would you choose?
Friese-Greene: I would recommend two: ‘What’s the View Like?’ and ‘I Want It All’.
Aldous: ‘Plenty in the Pantry’. It’s one of my favourites and a good example of how we collaborate. I had the original idea for the first verse, fundamentally about wanting to eat lots, then Lee came up with the chorus, which not only completes it musically but takes the whole idea of gluttony in a different direction, that you might want all this consumption to compensate for something else in your life. Not that I’m suggesting for a moment that this is why she’s personally into gluttony!
OSR: What advice can you give to up-and-coming musicians?
Friese-Greene & Aldous: The opening song on our album, ‘Clutter’, is about sloth. It is partly about the vast amount of digital content out there these days, the vast majority of which is entirely unremarkable. So what we’re saying is: if you are going to add to this huge quantity of music, try and be remarkable.
OSR: What can we expect from Lemonade Sin in the future?
Friese-Greene & Aldous: Pears, or maybe Pairs.
OSR: Do you have any message for our readers?
Friese-Greene & Aldous: Why did the farmer start a rock band? Because he was tired of haulin’ outs. (This probably works better if you say it aloud).
Many thanks to Simon Aldous and Lee Friese-Greene for speaking with us. For more from Lemonade Sin, check out their Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
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