At the age of 20, St. Lundi left his hometown of Hayling Island just off England’s south coast and headed to London in the hope of starting a career in music. Despite the odds being against him and having just £100 to his name, his plan somehow worked, with breakthrough moments with Seeb and Kygo first bringing him to attention before his solo career took off with Radio 2 playlists for Ready To Be Loved and Fall.
St Lundi
That was just a few years ago, but now Archie Langley – AKA St. Lundi – is excited to fulfil a lifelong ambition with the news that his debut album The Island will be released on 20th September, with new single Different Houses released now, trailing what is to come.
Different Houses provides an instantly engaging introduction into St. Lundi’s artistic style. It opens with the soft, affecting confessional, “The first time I felt heartache I was twelve,” before he shares the emotions and raw observations that he and his siblings experienced following their parents’ split. The song’s production grows in intensity: his voice ascending to new heights while sparse beats evolve into dramatic drum fills. Despite the song’s heart-rending emotions, the way it escalates suggests that St. Lundi has found peace with the situation, even if those tough childhood memories still linger.
Of the new tune St. Lundi says, “Different Houses is a really special song to me and one I will always hold close to my heart. It is about the day my parents told me, my brother and sister that they were splitting up. It took me years to write this song in a way I felt happy and comfortable with it, also in a way that didn’t paint my parents as villains. At the beginning of 2023 I started therapy for the first time, and three months later Different Houses was written. I almost needed to heal before I could see how the song needed to be written. Even though my parents split and my sister lived away from my brother and I, we were all still a family, just living in Different Houses.”
Different Houses is a chapter within the wider autobiographical tapestry of The Island album. Its songs offer picture postcard moments of St. Lundi’s life so far, interspersed with short interludes which heighten its poignancy. Check out the new tune below:
All of the songs on The Island were written or co-written by St. Lundi. His collaborators include Matt James (Tom Gregory, M-22), Ollie Green (Ella Henderson, Tom Grennan), Tom Fuller (Tom Walker), Jez Ashurt (Maisie Peters, Sam Ryder), Gez O’Connell (Kygo) and Martin Luke Brown (Jacob Banks).
You might be wondering about the rest of St. Lundi’s story after he headed to London. That £100 didn’t get him very far, but he met a group of Australian backpackers at an open mic night who offered him a sofa to sleep on. He stayed there for nine months, working in a school for children with learning difficulties by day and playing small shows by night. His debut single was released days before lockdown, but those challenging times saw the young singer-songwriter make huge strides forward with his Kygo co-write To Die For featuring on the Gold-certified Golden Hour album alongside appearing on Seeb’s track Colourblind.
His own career was soon picking up momentum too with 2021’s Nights Like This becoming his biggest track to date with airplay chart positions across Europe and 75 million streams to date, while his rising status was boosted by Ready To Be Loved and Fall.
His live shows quickly progressed too, with guest shows with the likes of Kodaline, Tom Gregory, Leon and ClockClock alongside intimate but enthusiastic headline gigs. He started 2024 with some intimate pop-up performances across Europe, and expect far more UK and international touring to be announced as the year unfolds.
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