ShareFrom his influential time with The Maccabees to the multi-faceted Gritterman story and two highly acclaimed solo albums, Orlando Weeks has carved a niche as one of the UK’s most singular talents. That reputation has further flourished with the release his new album Loja now available on all digital platforms, with physical formats released on August 23rd via Fiction Records. Orlando first kicked off the album’s new creative era by sharing it’s lead single Dig, featuring Rhian Teasdale of Wet Leg.
In celebration of the album, he is now set to embark on a UK tour across the country throughout September and October, starting at Newcastle’s The Cluny on the 24th September and concluding at Brighton’s St Georges Church on the 4th October.
Loja is a record in which place is as vital a characteristic as the emotions and incidents that he explores. The overarching themes are optimism and reflection: the positive mindset that emerged as he left London for a new life in Lisbon together with a new-found awareness about the things that you have left behind. Contentment emanates like a comforting embrace from an old friend. Yet life can never be as linear or as pure as unfiltered unhappiness and so Loja on occasion captures more corrosive moods too, from whispered confrontations to witnessing shocking tragedy in otherwise beautiful serenity.
Orlando says, “The great change in our lives was that we left London and moved to Lisbon, and the record definitely has elements of being a love letter to the place that we now call home. But I think the move provided a stirring of the waters. It threw up an awful lot of stuff and it gave us perspective and hindsight because suddenly there was distance. You can re-evaluate the things you were too close to, those things that there was no point spending time thinking about because it was the day-to-day bubble you were in.”
The title Loja (a shop or a store) references a building that Orlando rented in Lisbon which he used as his first proper art studio, a place where he crafted all of the art that accompanies the album.
TOUR DATES 2024
September
| Date | Venue |
|---|---|
| Tue 24th | The Cluny Newcastle |
| Wed 25th | Band On The Wall Manchester |
| Thu 26th | Norwich Arts Centre |
| Fri 27th | Brudenell Social Club Leeds |
| Sat 28th | Thekla Bristol |
October
| Date | Venue |
|---|---|
| Wed 2nd | Papillon Southampton |
| Thu 3rd | Islington Assembly Hall London |
| Fri 4th | St George’s Church Brighton |
Tickets are now on sale