From Nothing To A Little Bit More

Product Information

Now, as we approach the release of their second album, The Lathums show no signs of second album syndrome as they progress and mature from the 2021 record with a new lineup following Johnny Cunliffe’s departure. Matty Murphy joins on bass for the new era.

Alex: “At some point, if fate decides it — I’m not opposed to playing it live at all. Though I do think it’d be quite a lot for a person to stand there for eight minutes straight and take in all of that music. I think it’s more something that you should sit down and listen to it yourself.” You previously predicted to NME that you’d clinch the Number One spot with your debut album. What are your ambitions with album two? As Moore, Scott Concepcion (guitars/piano), and Ryan Durrans (drums) stride into their emboldened early twenties together, artistic support and kinship has come from some unlikely, ‘pinch me’ quarters, including The Killers, with whom Moore sang onstage at shows in Vienna and Amsterdam, plus Tim Burgess, Paul Weller, Arctic Monkeys, and Louis Tomlinson.In November 2022, the band announced their second album, From Nothing to a Little Bit More. Following the announcement, "Say My Name" and "Turmoil" were released. Alex: “But put us on any stage anywhere, and we will fulfil. That’s all we do: we’re not even people any more, we’re just musical notes. We’re just part of the music.” The Killers covered ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’ with Alex during shows in Vienna and Amsterdam last summer. That’s quite the endorsement…

Alex: “Not the longest song I’ve written, but, yes, the longest one we’ve recorded. Eight minutes is a good chunk of time! I had the main idea and narrative of it. I find this a lot with [writing] songs: there’s too many avenues [to go down] and ideas to fit into one song, [so] it can get completely muddled. But it was nice to just keep going and going, but it was mostly improvised — that’s probably why it ended up being so long. The words are improvised, so you have to fit the length with the words. But if the story’s not finished, it’ll be incomplete.” Do you think you’ll ever play it live? Being thought-provoking within your music is hard these days, and being original is even more complex, but this act knows how to shape and craft organic music that doesn’t cater to repetitiveness. They also know how to balance sound and lyricism well. AM: “I wanted to have a song that brings an old, nostalgic feel but in a modern way. We always want to keep it fresh, we used to talk about that when we were playing in pubs as young lads. We wanted to have a song for everybody, it doesn’t matter who’s listening—there can be a song for everybody.”Alex: “Personally, I feel like we’ve already outdone ourselves massively. With our first album it wasn’t the goal to get Number One, but it was an affirmation of our first real step into music. We wanted to see if the people agreed, and it turns out they agreed very, very strongly. With album two, I’m happy that we’ve brought our music to so many different places and people. I’m not saying I don’t want a Number One, I’ll take it! I’d be very happy with that. But the feeling I get from people is way more important than any accolades. The life that we’re living, being on tour and stuff like that, meeting people: that’s the real stuff that gets you going, not a trophy.” Matty, how pleased are you to now be an official member of The Lathums? Alex: “I think that’s more of a constant thing, really. We’re together all of the time: 80% of that time we’re in very intense situations that we have to either get sorted there and then, or talk through it and get it sorted before it runs away from us. There’s a lot more people [listening] now, which is very good for us. The reaction has more than doubled,” frontman Alex Moore tells NME over Zoom. “We’re just waiting for the album to come out now, so we can take the next step. We’re excited to be able to play it [live]. This has been our only traditional release: we started when the world was crazy, really.” Drummer Ryan Durrans chips in: “When the world was crazier.” Scott Concepcion: “I did. There’s plenty of little guitar parts and overlapping intricacies that form melodies when listened to together. Jim Abbiss [producer] brought out his Höfner electric thumb piano too, it was incredible.” In September 2021, the band released their debut album, How Beautiful Life Can Be, which featured remastered versions of previously released singles, alongside new songs.