“Gothfather” Lol Tolhurst broadens his
perspective on third album from the LA- based band, adding former Cure bandmate
Michael Dempsey to his LEVINHURST project.
LEVINHURST has always
been about taking the best of the past to create a better future. This
progression is evident in the covers of their three albums: the artwork on
debut record "Perfect Life" depicted stark industrial buildings; sophomore
release "House By The Sea" alludes to brooding melancholia; and now the
luminous imagery on new work "Blue Star" suggests a forest clearing, coming out
of the woods into the light of awakening.
The Album
"Blue Star" is a trip into the esoterica of
ancient electronic music from the 1940s, 50s and 60s, hauntingly blended to
reference Lol Tolhurst's long musical legacy. His renowned drumwork and rhythms
on the new songs are varied and mature and, true to his past, the lyrics are
sensitive vignettes of modern life.
“Blue Star” derives its
name in part from the first astronauts' explanation of what the earth looked
like from space. This is an album of reflection about where we are right now
both globally and personally.” reflects Lol. “The lyrics are
simultaneously both individual and universal.”
Lol is both anchor
and inspiration for LEVINHURST as a group to showcase the strengths and
passions of its members. Vocalist Cindy Levinson enchants with a powerful,
newfound verve, contributing as writer of her vocal harmonies. She finds
meditation for the recording process in the ocean waves of Malibu and shares
that love of natural wonder with her band mates. Virtuoso guitarist Eric
Bradley colors the many moods of the tracks, bringing a broad range of
technique and experimentation from his work with Alice in Chains, Jerry
Cantrell and his own Young Royals.
Collaboration
New to the line up is former Cure band
mate, bassist Michael Dempsey, who embellishes "Blue Star" with rich
orchestration, adding layers to LEVINHURST's signature soundscaping. There was
a very English homecoming for Lol when he and Cindy joined Michael in East
Sussex over Christmas 2008 to work on the record. The bleak, frozen countryside
again offered space for reflection, as Lol contemplated not only the return to
his homeland for the first time since his departure from the UK, but also the
milestones of a simultaneous fiftieth birthday and thirty-year anniversary of
The Cure.
"I think there is an obvious synchronicity with Michael and I
working together again 30 years after we started The Cure,” says Tolhurst.
“The circle is complete, and in the middle part of life it feels like we
will fulfill the yearning promise of our youthful selves once
again".
The Past
As schoolmates in deepest Sussex, Lol
Tolhurst, Michael Dempsey and Robert Smith banded together in a mutual love for
Bowie, The Clash and philosophical literature, forming one of pop music's most
enduring bands. Tolhurst remained in The Cure through the 80's as a chief
collaborator with Smith, finishing with the multi-platinum masterwork and since
unsurpassed "Disintegration". Dempsey had left the band after the first record,
continuing in other musical projects, including a stint in Roxy Music and
recently bringing Pink Floyd's celebrated "Atom Heart Mother" to the London
stage for the first time since the 1970's.
Tolhurst & Dempsey
worked together in the early 90s as Presence, releasing the album "Inside" on
Island Records. Tolhurst remembers "It was a great time, but too much too soon
after The Cure for me, I needed more space to figure out what I really wanted
to do."
California
Lol moved to the United States in the mid-90s, choos- ing to settle
in a very disparate Southern California. His interests were evolving; he was
journeying through the pensiveness for which his previous band is celebrated
and allowing Eastern and other philosophies to replace the dense and darker
tones of European existentialism. He found lucidity and inspiration in the
openness of the desert, and one particular epiphany in the Mojave became the
source for much of his new creative impulse.
The
Singer
He discovered Cindy, a striking and sunny LA native, when she
was singing unselfconciously in the garden one fateful afternoon. She became
the perfect foil to his British reserve, and eventually asked her to be the
voice of the group, and also his life.
Lol states, "Cindy has a raw
musicality which has come to fruition in "Blue Star". It is now a shining
diamond of her most natural and beautiful expression, both sensuous and
singularly unapologetic. LEVINHURST is the synthesis of all of our pasts,
crystallizing here and now".
The Future
LEVINHURST
releases "Blue Star" worldwide on June 30th 2009, and will tour beginning in
October.
The Album 
Collaboration
Lol moved to the United States in the mid-90s, choos- ing to settle
in a very disparate Southern California. His interests were evolving; he was
journeying through the pensiveness for which his previous band is celebrated
and allowing Eastern and other philosophies to replace the dense and darker
tones of European existentialism. He found lucidity and inspiration in the
openness of the desert, and one particular epiphany in the Mojave became the
source for much of his new creative impulse. 
