In anticiption for the release of ‘Loving You Is Killing Me’, their first album in five years, My Life Story has shared the electrifying opening track “Running Out Of Heartbeats” which will feature alongside fellow singles “Numb Numb Numb”, “Tits & Attitude” and “I’m A God.” The new track is available to listen here.
Prompted by a quote from astronaut Neil Armstrong, ‘Running Out Of Heartbeats’ sees chief songwriter Jake Shillingford wax philosophical about how love, life and the way we live it, could be playing with our human hearts and our overall longevity.
Commenting on the genesis for the track, Shillingford explains: “On returning from the moon and on his withdrawal from public life Neil Armstrong allegedly said: ‘I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine’. Finite Heartbeat Theory suggests we get roughly 2.5 billion beats throughout our lives. I wanted to explore if we can put a value on each heartbeat. Do we lose more through the palpitations of love, or leading a dynamic life? Or are we wasting our heartbeats by taking the easy life?”
The upcoming album ‘Loving You Is Killing Me’ (out 9th February, via Exilophone Records/Republic Of Music) follows the release of MLS’ last critically acclaimed album ‘World Citizen’, which was released in 2019 and their first for some 19 years. The new album discusses themes of empathy, profaneness, vaingloriousness, coercive behaviour and naturism. With the upcoming record taking its title from the current single, frontman Jake Shillingford says:
“Loving You is Killing Me is a lyric taken from the album’s opening track ‘Running Out of Heartbeats’. Despite its pessimistic inference, I like to think that it’s more generally about investment in relationships. Is there a price to pay for unconditional love?”
The LP, published by Mute Song and available to pre-order here, has been written and produced by Shilingford alongside Nick Evans and mixed by Ben Hillier (Blur, Patrick Wolf, Nadine Shah, Peter Perrett, Depeche Mode).
The album release will be followed by a small UK tour that includes two shows at the prestigious London venue the 100 Club on Oxford Street, their first London appearances in over 2 years. In addition, Shillingford has just announced a run of intimate instore shows in the week of the LP’s release whereby he will be performing a short acoustic set and signing albums at independent record shops across the country. All scheduled dates are as listed below and tickets are available here. You can also check out a recent interview we conducted with the band just ahead of the release of the first single taken from the album, ‘Numb, Numb, Numb’:
FEBRUARY
INSTORE SHOWS
9th Feb – SOUTHAMPTON Vinilo – 7pm
Sat 10th Feb – LONDON Sister Ray – 12pm
Sat 10th Feb – WALTON ON THE NAZE Format – 6pm
Sun 11th Feb – LEEDS Vinyl Whistle – 7pm
Mon 12th Feb – LIVERPOOL Phase One – 7pm
Tues 13th Feb – KINGSTON Banquet – 6pm
Wed 14th Feb – SOUTHSEA Pie & Vinyl – 1pm
Wed 14th Feb – BRIGHTON Family Store – 6pm
HEADLINE DATES
Thurs 15th – ST. ALBANS – The Horn
Fri 16th – BRIGHTON – Hope & Ruin
Sat 17th – LONDON – 100 Club (Sold Out)
Thurs 22nd – BIRMINGHAM – Hare & Hounds
Thurs 29th – BRISTOL – Louisiana
MARCH
Sat 2nd – LONDON -100 Club
APRIL
Fri 5th – ALDERSHOT West End Centre
Fri 12th – STROUD – Sub Rooms
