Following the release of the hypnotically crafted ‘Thus Must Rust’, Melbourne’s Lehmann B. Smithreturns with his uniquely romantic new single & video ‘Tropical’, featuring the effortlessly charming vocals of Sarah Farquharson, of The Finks. ‘Tropical’ is the second single to be lifted from Lehmann B. Smith’s forthcoming new record Poplar Music out Friday 25th May via Bedroom Suck / Remote Control Records.
Speaking of ‘Tropical’ Smith divulges “I wrote the music with Caetano Veloso’s ‘Tu Me Acostumbraste’ in mind, and then the lyrics in bed while it rained and I sat up in bed listening to it in the house alone. I took some trinkets from Joao Gilberto for the arrangement, and got Sarah to sing it to me. After that I tried to copy Serge Gainsbourg’s video clip for “Couleur Cafe”. Otherwise it’s one from the heart.”
Finding his greatest success as a sideman for bands like Totally Mild and Kes Band, Smith has often been described as a musician’s musician, an undiscovered talent. He is a prodigious songwriter, laboriously notating album after album of unreleased material and storing these away in his home studio for a rainy day.
With six diverse and critically acclaimed albums under his belt from The Big Dry (2009) to Thank God For My Body (2015), Smith is now gearing up to release his seventh album Poplar Music – written, arranged, recorded and played almost entirely by himself at this studio (reportedly somewhere in Ascot Vale). Praised as the suburban version of Prince on the outskirts of an Australian city, Lehmann B. Smith is a mystery, an enigma, something of a genius; his music will resonate in your head for days, and should you be lucky enough to witness a live performance – save that story for your children. You’ve heard ‘Thus Must Rust’, now lose yourself in Smith’s captivating second offering ‘Tropical’.
