Frank Lloyd Wleft

“Flits between down-trodden lyricism and a sprawling upbeat melody… an unrelenting, genre-melding clash” – The Line of Best Fit 

“Clearly a very talented emerging singer-songwriter” – Gary Crowley, BBC London

“A lilting tapestry complete with woven guitars and jumpy bass guitar” – The Most Radicalist

“Infuses country, punk, poetry and jangle into a concoction that’s truly one-of-a-kind” – Still Listening

On 6th October, London’s self-proclaimed ‘post-Americana’ artist Frank Lloyd Wleft releases his debut album ‘Raised on Red Milk’. A fixture on the London scene with regular slots at Windmill Brixton, Wleft’s music draws on influences across country, jangle pop, post-punk and beat poetry.

The 22-year-old Wleft has been performing in London in various capacities steadily since the end of the pandemic. Performances under his own name generally feature his backing band, or ‘Orchestra’, which currently features drummer Will Ormsby and bassist Beatrice Stride, as well as occasional saxophone contributions from Deadletter’s Poppy Richler. Highlights of their short band history include high-profile Windmill support slots with The Rebel (at the 2022 Windmill Country Christmas party) and Lou Terry, as well as the art exhibition/music showcases of The Public Revue, where ‘The Orchestra’ have rubbed shoulders with the likes of Ash Kenazi, Gentle Stranger and Waterbaby. Early supporters of the band have included The Line of Best Fit, John Kennedy (Radio X), The Most Radicalist, Slow Dance Records and For the Rabbits.

Outside of his own band, Wleft plays guitar for Salomé Wu and has done stints playing with fellow London country singer Wildwood Daddy, as well as Cosette Gobat and Goat Girl’s H. L. Grail. He also performs poetry sets at various showcases and open mics, and has had his work published in a collaboration between Blue Shout (Angus Rogers of Opus Kink) and Toothgrinder Press (Ned Green of Legss) as well as by the Gobjaw Poetry Collective.

‘Raised on Red Milk’ is rooted in Wleft’s formative influences along with his own lyrical idiosyncrasies. Songs like ‘Caroline’ and ‘See Where You Land’ speak of an obsession with the Melbourne music scene and bands like Dick Diver and The Go-Betweens, the former featuring Robbie Carmen who plays with similarly jangly London acts Nudista, Baggio and Lilo. ‘Take You Over’ was reportedly written under the twin influences of Black Country, New Road and The Carter Family, drawing comparisons to Television as its guitar lines unfurl across repeatedly shifting time signatures. Wildwood Daddy brings out the country folk sing-song quality with her backing vocals and Goat Girl’s Lottie Pendlebury completes the arrangement, bringing some fiddle to its barn-stomping façade.

‘The Gilesgate Monologues’ imposes itself upon the middle of the album, owning up to the influence of Ginsberg and Kerouac while responding to the place of poetry being imposed on the British alternative scene by contemporaries like Legss and English Teacher. Its words capture the chaos of Wleft’s final year at university (doing History at Durham if you must know), studying yé-yé and the fortunes of the Miami Dolphins with the same enthusiasm as Russian cosmist philosophy and the work of Kazimir Malevich.

‘Concept album’ is a strong phrase, and if it applies at all to ‘… Red Milk’, it is only to describe how it came together as a debut album. As such, Wleft intended for it to pay homage to the range of styles he has worked in up to the point that the album came together. ‘Serious Fun’ recalls the post-punk straightforwardness of his uni band Women’s Fashion, complete with a grotty Fire Engines riff and yelped vocals. In intentional contrast, it sits alongside ‘Good to You’, an amicable breakup song aspiring to Another Side-era Dylan with an assertively plain Carter scratch instrumental.

‘Raised on Red Milk’ will be available on CD and digitally across streaming platforms. Its photography and design was executed by Medb, whose practice spans music, poetry, visual art and the editing of zine Thumb Suck Girl. The album is the first pop production by Alfie Whillis, a fellow Durham student with whom Wleft played in Women’s Fashion and the university’s New Art Music Ensemble.