Into the Murky Water

By the time they came to record their second album, Nick and Christian were able to come out of the bedroom studio and record with members of the crack six-piece live band they'd assembled, fleshing out their sound to something fuller and richer. That's Bas Hankins (drums), Helen Whitaker (flute), Darren Bonehill (bass), Mike Sidell (violin), William Calderbank (Cello) and newcomer Amy May on Viola - now more a part of The Leisure Society than ever before. The Murky Water sessions began in earnest in May 2010 at a mock Tudor mansion in Kent, where the rhythm parts were thrashed over the course of five days with just the neighbourhood bats for company. "We wanted to do a bit of a Led Zep, set all our kit up there and wig out," says Christian. "It was quite nice to rock out in a country space, because the silence is quite noisy." After two weeks going wild in the country, they spent the rest of the year working at Trinity Music College and Nick's apartment in Greenwich, crafting an album that's got a surprise around every corner. "We've agonised over every squeak, every noise, to a point of lunacy," says Christian. The strange, new world Nick and Christian find themselves in is reflected by the album's title, which came to Nick while reading Albert Camus's The Fall. "I always felt Nick was watching from the sidelines in some way," says Christian. "On this album, he's immersed himself in all the things he was looking at. It's more colourful and vibrant, and it's full of happiness and terror. He's the guy poised to dive on the cover. He's heading into the murky water."