Royston Langdon Shares 'Chains' EP

Chains, the second solo project from vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter Royston Langdon (former lead singer for the British rock band Spacehog), is out today (10/29) on CD and digitally (with a vinyl edition due out early next year) via BFD/The Orchard.

Langdon's new six-track Chains EP features all-new compositions, including lead single "Halfway Home" (currently on Spotify's Rockin' Vibes playlist featuring the best in alt, folk, and indie rock) and second single "Creepy Crawly," as well as covers of songs from David Bowie and Iggy Pop. Recorded in Brooklyn, NY, Langdon enlisted Bryce Goggin (The Lemonheads, Trey Anastasio, Antony and the Johnsons, The Apples in Stereo) and Adam Sachs to produce and engineer Chains. Langdon handled the songwriting on the four original tracks (along with Matt Hackett on the self-titled track) and played all the instruments heard on the EP, with the exception of "Chains" and "Creepy Crawly" featuring drummer Parker Kindred (Jeff Buckley, Black Beatle) and "Halfway Home" featuring Sachs on drums.

Goggin and Langdon have known each other since Langdon's early days in New York, when he interned at the recording studio where Goggin was head engineer, eventually the two became friends, and Goggin would go onto produce the first Spacehog single "In The Meantime" and Langdon's debut solo project Everything's Dandy (released May of 2018).

Initial praise for the new EP includes Loudwire (10/4), who shares, "...Langdon gives us this undeniably infectious new song 'Halfway Home'...Turn it up and enjoy the stomp-clap shuffle while playing this on repeat." Adds PopMatters (10/27), "...Chains injects a much-needed boost into Langdon's sound. If Everything's Dandy reminded people that he could still write songs, Chains lets everyone know that Langdon can still sculpt big sounds and even rock out when he wants to... Langdon possesses the rare gift of applying a glam varnish to small, personable songs while somehow not drowning them in theatrics. The more you listen to Chains, the more you realize that his sense of restraint is just as strong as his voice. And just as Spacehog's early hit was a breath of fresh air for us all, the kitsch factor of Chains provides a welcome distraction from our collective, troublesome reality...On a macroscopic level, Chains is fun."

Regarding Chains, Langdon shares, "I've often found it difficult for me to move on in my life and in my work. At times, I've chosen seemingly reliable mechanisms of avoidance, rather than face the more difficult confrontation and change required. This practice has in turn, created its own sort of trauma loops, which include repeating the same old patterns over and over, eventually leading to the destruction and recycling of relationships, and leaving me scared to get close. During this destruction and confusion, I notice similarities to the world around me and the world online, where we try to create a new and better version of the world for ourselves -- one in which we can merely scroll and in doing so, immediately recognize certain patterns in others, eventually leading to our development of an entirely new sense or instinct to help us better navigate our reality. Sometimes, I catch myself zoned in on the idea of this pretend, online version of reality because it's more beautiful and better than my actual present reality (with all its frailties), which I'm afraid of.

This inspired the self-titled track 'Chains,' where I use a metaphor for the world's rich building McMansion after McMansion, row after row, in hopes of creating a new version of 'a better life.' In being so desperate and willing to go to any lengths to avoid their own fears, by creating a fake of a fake, they manufacture a 'today' which is just another version of what they had yesterday, and never another tomorrow."

Listen to the new EP here:

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