Jamie Lenman – Shuffle

Continuously pushing the envelope as an artist and never one for conventional norms, Jamie Lenman released Shuffle, an album that at its very heart is a covers album.

Exploring the idea of the ‘shuffle’, where the listener goes on a journey of their own choosing, Jamie explores the notion of skipping through a variety of media picking out favourites and stumbling upon interesting curveballs to create a playlist unique to the listener. Shuffle is Jamie’s ambitious artistic take on this idea.

With producer Space (Idles, Black Futures) returning to realise this vision, the album is not only limited to reimagined songs – it covers television themes, film scores, and the music from his favourite video game. It’s not even limited to music – there is a cover of a chapter from his favourite book and a scene from a short film, in his debut acting performance with his favourite actor (none other than Paul McGann - Doctor Who/Withnail and I).

We’ll leave the last word to Jamie himself:

"I’ve always wanted to make a covers record and some of these versions have been in the works for many years, so this was a real career goal for me".

"I feel like the phrase ‘covers album’ has become a bit of a dirty word, which is odd - they’re a vital part of our musical landscape. Some of my favourite records are cover albums – Annie Lennox’s Medusa, Johnny Cash’s American, even those early records by the Beatles and The Specials were mostly covers, and still utterly their sound. For me, this album has been a dream come true - total creative freedom, a chance to push myself into terrifying new territories. There are so many parts of it that I still can't believe we actually managed to achieve, from singing in ancient languages to acting with one of my heroes and so much more besides. I can't wait for everyone to hear it!”