Demeanour

Demeanour artwork.

"Demeanour" is the eleventh original studio album by LorD and Master. Written and recorded in the latter half of 2016, the album is more reflective and electronic-sounding than previous albums. It was produced on Apple's Logic Pro software. Release date: 3 April 2017.

Concept

With the idea of making an album that was more reflective and not-so-dancey, LorD and Master set out to think of song titles which sounded reflective. During this process, it was realised that reflective-sounding song titles were too constraining and sounded, well, a bit soppy in places and nobody wants a repeat of the "Strangers' whispers" incident of 2013. Instead, concepts were grasped upon: the feelings of being lost, stories about losing one's faculties as one gets older and, of course, the ends of relationships made for better stories than those evoked by the song titles. Working on different synths (thanks to the acquisition of Komplete 11 by Native Instruments for LorD and Master's 36th birthday) and experimenting with different sounds and doodles, the album came together.

Design-wise, the album and singles' direction was dictated by the reflectiveness of the works. Peter Nugent suggested using old photographs for the series of four pieces, with the idea being that the audience has found a small collection of photographs that have aged slightly. Only one photo was actually scanned, however, which was the image of LorD and Master as a six-month-old baby standing in his cot, having, it turns out, been propped there by his brother. The image for "Invincible" was taken by photographer Warren Christmas at a birthday party while LorD and Master performed "Always on my mind" on karaoke (the Redux version, though) and was taken from Facebook. The image for "Cold sweat" was taken by Tommy Bailey-Graham in Iceland and was found on a barely-working back-up DVD of pictures from that holiday. The images were then made to look older using various filters and the text applied in white, so as to be stark and minimal.

Tracklisting

1. "Child of the 80s" - 4.02
2. "Invincible" - 3.20
3. "Majesty" - 3.39
4. "Defy the distance" - 4.19
5. "Encounters" - 4.01
6. "No end in sight" - 3.50
7. "Unfamiliar territory" - 3.34
8. "Cold sweat" - 4.00
9. "Thicker than blood" - 3.54
10. "Little maniacs" - 3.36
11. "Unforgettable" - 3.14
12. "Call it a day" - 3.54

Total running time: 45 minutes, 17 seconds.

Personnel

• Daniel Bailey-Graham: Writing on all tracks, lead vocals, backing vocals, keyboards and piano, electronics, synthesisers, programming, vocoder, sequencing, mixing, mastering, art design, photography.
• Peter Nugent: Design direction.
• Tommy Bailey: Photography for artwork on Demeanour and "Cold sweat" (archive).
• Lynn Graham: Photography for artwork on "Child of the 80s".
• Warren Christmas: Photography for artwork on "Invincible".

Previous and following

Decimus ← Demeanour → Fractured