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The U.K.’s talented singer-songwriter, Chris Lewington uses a tried and tested technique when he composes a song; he calls it “classic songwriting.” The result is an eclectic array of music built on a foundation of styles from the late 60s and 70s. While at times Lewington’s work seem almost “Beatle-esque,” at other times, one can hear a myriad of other influences he masterfully mixes into his compositions. Indeed, there’s an inherently timeless feel within the songs of Chris Lewington.

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Chris Lewington has been a musician since his early teens when he first picked up the guitar. His first love was not pop or rock music but movie themes and his earliest musical heroes were the likes of Ennio Morricone and John Barry. Later in his teens, listening to the singer- songwriters of the time he started to write songs. “It struck me how someone like Paul Simon or Leonard Cohen could wrap complex themes of love, life and existence up in just a 3 or 4 minute tune with a timeless melody”

Ready for the stage Chris Lewington started his first band, called The Silence, in the early 80s and released his first singles, “A Car in Denmark” and “The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter,” The Silence also feature alongside the likes of Julian Cope on the the cult compilation, “A Splash of Colour”, that followed the early 80’s psychedelic revival.

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By the mid-eighties Chris had formed The Bicycle Thieves, which had a similar style to REM and Lloyd Cole. With The Bicycle Thieves, Lewington penned the singles “Ghostdance” and “Louise,” both of which received airplay on Radio 1. “Louise” would go on to win the 1989 TDK Songwriter Award. Another single, “Waterfront” received a lot of airplay and some notice on the UK Charts. Chris also got the chance to work with the renowned producer Tony Visconti during this period.

In the early 90s, Chris returned to his singer- songwriter roots as he started a new project called The Famous Blue Raincoats, a folky acoustic style band that performed in smaller sized venues in and around London. A compilation album of their work is available now on streaming sites. During the 90s and 2000s, Lewington concentrated on writing new material to pitch to publishers.

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It was not until 2018 that Chris set aside time to finally release his first official full- length album as a solo artist. “Technology had advanced to the point that you could make decent recordings for release using just a laptop and recording in your own home”. Hence the title of the album, Landells Road, named after the street where it was recorded, and as a sort of homage to The Beatles’ Abbey Road. The retro amalgam of stylistic sounds found on Landells Road reflects Lewington’s love of classic artists such as The Beatles, Love and Scott Walker as well as contempories like Bon Iver, Calexico and First Aid Kit

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“The Man Who Saved The World” was released as a single for the start of 2020. There's a 60's West coast flavour to the track with hints of Jefferson Airplane. The song tells the story of Stanislav Petrov the Russian colonel during the 80’s cold war whose quick thinking averted a nuclear holocaust when he ignored early warning alerts of incoming US missiles. A man who literally saved the world.

 

The  album “Riverside" was released on the 10th August 2020. Like Landells Road the album is entirely produced and performed by Chris using just a laptop in a bed room. The title is again after the road in which he lives. This time there is perhaps a more pastoral feel to the album now that Chris has moved to the countryside by the river. There is a very English feel to much of the record including songs about the PreRapaelites and a setting of a Rupert Brookes poem. There is also more of a 70's singer songwriter sound to many of the tracks. But still that classic and timeless songwriting feel through all 11 new tracks. .​

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The third album "Starfish Memories" was released in 2022. Featuring 11 tracks that reflect the world we live in from songs about personal relationships to the war in Ukraine, COVID and COP 26. Immediate hooks and singalong chorus's combine with more intimate ballads to create a strong and powerful  record from one of Britain's most eclectic recording artists.

 

2023 saw new single releases of original songs with"River of No Return", "Tell Me About it" and "September Sun". 2024 with "Remember Me" and Friends Too Far Apart"

 

Having previously released three albums of original songs and numerous singles over the last five years, Chris delivered an album of cover songs for his latest 2024 release. Drawing on many references in his own work Chris has recorded his own take on some of the most iconic and equally some of the most neglected tracks across the 60s, 70s and 80’s music scene. For Chris the album is both a labour of love and a personal project revisiting some of the songs that inspired him to be a musician and songwriter in the first place. There’s Psychedelic 60s with Tomorrow’s “My White Bicycle”, Traffic’s “Forty Thousand Headmen” and Donovan’s atmospheric ”Season of The Witch”. 70s Glam is featured with David Bowie’s dystopian anthem “Five Years” and the more romantic side of the 70’s with Chris’s unique take on 10CC’s “I’m Not In Love”. Into the 80’s and the 90’s and theres diverse interpretations of Joy Division, Nirvana, Chris Isaak and Cherry Ghost. A great new reading of “Broken Dream” Aussie band Python Lee Jackson’s somewhat forgotten No 1 hit that introduced the world to Rod Stewart in exchange for a couple of car matts?? And singer songwriter heaven with Cat Steven’s “First Cut” and John Lennon’s ode to his mum “Julia”

 

The genesis of the album came from the lockdown months during the Covid pandemic when musicians found themselves unable to play live. Like many Chris took to social media and built up a following for his “Comfy Armchair sessions” where he made live recordings of the songs of other artists and shared on his Facebook pages https://www.facebook.com/ChrisLewingtonmusic/. A series still going to this day.

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