“From the streets of London to the stories buried in the fabric of British history, Longboat finds music in the little things that make a place feel like home.”
There’s something rather fascinating about looking at a place you know well through the eyes of someone who’s come from somewhere else. The mundane details suddenly become interesting and the familiar surroundings can take on a very different character indeed. That’s the premise of Longboat’s forthcoming 37th album, Proud of My Postcode. Due for release at the end of September 2026, it’s a completely electronic record which is a warm, often bemused, portrait of Britain and London as seen through the eyes of an American musician who has clearly settled in and formed a very strong attachment to the country. The album as a whole is full of distinctly British references, places and concepts. The track titles in themselves are indicative of a very characterful record. ‘A Fox in Hoxton’ immediately conjures up the urban foxes of London, ‘Keep It Imperial’ is a reference to the country’s somewhat fraught relationship with its own history and traditions and ‘My Victorian Poltergeist’ is a more sinister, slightly more whimsical track which again is a nod to the oddities of the past. Rather than just the famous places you’d expect, Longboat seems to be interested in the particularities of places and the things that make them what they are. That’s the whole point of the ‘everyday’ stuff really. “This Primark jumper”, “The dullest blade”, “The English summer chill” are all perfectly ordinary observations. That’s the appeal of them. Britain isn’t just about the big historical moments or the postcard images. There’s room for the ordinary clothing, the dry wit, the unpredictable weather and the myriad of small things that make up the everyday. The very title of the album *Proud of My Postcode* sums it up. It’s pride in your place not because of what it is in the wider scheme of things, but because of the actual experience of being there.
London is very much in evidence throughout the record. ‘Red Routemaster’ is of course a nod to one of the city’s most iconic images, ‘All Along the Fleet’ and ‘Waterloo Situation’ are obviously references to locations and names associated with the capital and ‘Brixton Bill’ is another very much London reference. Taken together they give the record a real sense of movement around the city, as if the songwriter is just gathering up the bits and pieces of the city that have caught his eye. It’s not an attempt to represent all of London of course. It’s simply a collection of the things that have struck him. There’s also a clear interest in British history and the way that it continues to inform the present day. “We Did It with Style” and “Mudlark Life” are further examples of the historical/cultural references that pepper the album’s overall concept, with “Dead Man’s Hand” introducing a rather more ominous phrase which is open to interpretation. These sit alongside the more humourous observations and the track listing has a real variety about it. The contrast is significant in that Longboat’s love of Britain doesn’t seem to be predicated on the country being some sort of perfect utopia. The album’s concept recognises the country’s political and economic problems and still finds something to be proud of in the fact that people go on living their lives.
Proud of My Postcode is a very different proposition to a conventional guitar-based portrait of Britain. It’s entirely electronic and Longboat use the electronic production as the basis for their observational songwriting. They bring together a wide range of subjects from history, culture and the everyday into one coherent whole. The record was recorded at Strongroom Studios in Shoreditch with Will Davies on engineering. The track information provided doesn’t go into any detail about the individual arrangements but the electronic approach is very much the identity of the record and provides the framework for the disparate collection of subjects. Longboat were formed in Seattle in 2011 and are run by a musician who has a background in jazz tenor sax and songwriting. They’re typically a solo studio act but will bring in rock and jazz musicians, strings, horns and backing vocals as and when the music requires it. They’ve amassed a huge catalogue of 39 albums and over 500 songs written so it’s a project that has been very much about experimentation and looking at different subjects and different sounds. This release is very much about the UK and the personal relationship that the founder has with the country. That link is also seeping into everyday life beyond the recordings. The musician is currently based between the UK and Seattle with plans to make the UK his home. He’s also started doing piano only versions of approximately 100 Longboat songs in Clerkenwell, London and is looking at taking those shows on the road. His dedication to human creativity and human performance (not AI) is another aspect of the project’s very independent approach. Proud of My Postcode is less about painting a complete picture of Britain and more about the things that make you feel you belong in it. The titles in the collection range from various locations in London, through to historical references, humour and the very mundane things of everyday life all seen through the eyes of an American born songwriter. Longboat draws inspiration from the ordinary as much as the spectacular and it is that very quality which gives the album its individuality. It’s a warm, affectionate musical portrait of a country of contradictions, where the little things can be the very thing that you end up writing a song about.
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