Jon Allen’s new album project Seven Dials is rich with evocative narrative postcards of what life might have been like for the typical 18th century Londoner. And as his singles Down With The Tide, White Gold, The Shadow and Nine Lives have shown, while the events and circumstances back then were often very different, people’s intrinsic behaviour and motivations are almost unchanged. That’s something which is especially true of his new single Midnight Oil.
Jon Allen
Jon drops a pin on a bar on St. Giles and the story unfolds. The Midnight Oil narrator is getting quietly obliterated during a seemingly eternal drinking session with Tommy, his partner-in-crime. Their latest burglary hasn’t gone so well, so rather than sensibly lying low they’re instead escaping their problems by drinking until night turns to day – or at least, until the barman calls time. What was commonplace in the 1700s isn’t too far removed from what you’ll witness on any given night in the contemporary capital. The song’s unhurried, warm-hearted bluesy-folk groove offers the perfect soundtrack to a bar session in which losing count of your drinks is an essential part of the night.
Midnight Oil was entirely written, performed and produced solely by Jon Allen. It was completed with mixing and mastering from Dan Skinner. Jon says: “This song came from thinking about those wild nights where the line between celebration and self-destruction blurs. It’s inspired by the kinds of people and places where the party never stops – where the air is thick, the stories are larger than life, and the consequences are left for another day. It’s about embracing the chaos, living in the moment, and letting the midnight oil burn as long as you can, even if it’s reckless. It’s a nod to the thrill and the cost of being a good-time fool.”
Jon Allen had the idea behind the Seven Dials album when he visited the Bow Street Police Museum and was fascinated to learn about London’s first police force, the Bow Street Runners, who are mentioned in Midnight Oil. Between the museum’s stories and his own fervent creativity, he was fascinated to imagine the tales of a police force tasked with fighting organised crime and low-level criminality alike.
That was only heightened within the context of London life at the time: a place where people often escaped unimaginable squalor and poverty by losing themselves within the gin craze. But the broader parallels between then and now aren’t so different: regardless of the century, London is a place populated by countless people with big ambitions and scarce resources – and how those two things intersect makes for fascinating storytelling.
Over the course of a career which has exceeded 40 million streams, Jon Allen has collaborated with Paul McCartney and Mark Knopfler, supported arena rockers KALEO, played Glastonbury, performed on Later… with Jools Holland, and had his song Going Home soundtrack a Land Rover ad campaign. All of his releases come via his own Monologue Records, an independent cottage industry label which allows for maximum creative freedom.
Jon Allen will celebrate the release of Seven Dials by hitting the road with his band The Luna Kings: Randall Breneman (guitar), Phil Brickell (bass) and Adam Skinner (drums). Tickets for the following shows are available HERE.
MAY
16th – Cardiff, Acapela Studio
24th – London, Bush Hall
29th – Haarlem, Patronaat
30th – Rotterdam, Rotown
31st – Utrecht, Tivoli
JUNE
1st – Groningen, De Oosterpoort
5th – Odense, Dexter
19th – Barnoldswick, Music and Arts Centre
20th – Newcastle, The Cluny
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