Storyteller Scott Lavene makes his highly anticipated return, sharing news of third album ‘Disneyland in Dangenham’ due out 10th May on Cheersquad Records & Tapes. To mark the announcement, Lavene has also, shared his surreal semi-fictional new single “Debbie”. The record follows his critically acclaimed 2021 album, Milk City Sweethearts, and continuing success from popular recent singles “Waitrose Has Run Out Of Lobsters” and “Broke”.

Lavene has led a more eventful life than most. His 20s took him from sleeping in a tent as he roamed around France with his guitar to flirting with the music industry proper while living on a London houseboat, and then to a period of serious mental collapse that saw him withdraw completely from music for seven years, “but I’m not that man anymore,” he says. Recent achievements include a triumphant set at End Of The Road Festival, before capping off 2023 by opening for The Hold Steady on tour, and at the band’s legendary annual New York residency based on a shared appreciation of one another’s music. The band’s vocalist Craig Finn (who Lavene will tour with again later this month) is among many converted to his work and appears on ‘Disneyland in Dagenham’.

For the first time, he’s completely abandoned any pretence of coolness. “I was not afraid to include everything that I like, whether or not it’s really eccentric. I wasn’t afraid of just making the record that I wanted.” Lavene says. “I think I have a really good memory for emotion. I think it’s because I’m riddled with self-pity!” ‘Disneyland In Dagenham’ is no exception. It’s a record that tumbles together the autobiographical and the imagined, the heart-breaking and the preposterous; the tale of that itinerant drug-dealing horse, for instance is also a genuinely touching allegory for the way friendships can slip through one’s fingers. “The album is really about saying fuck the rules, write whatever you like.” Says Lavene

Lavene realised his storytelling couldn’t be contained by so simple a brief. ‘Debbie’, for example is a bizarre and semi-fictional song about fading love, based around a transfixingly woozy guitar line. “It’s a fucking weird song, but also my favourite thing I’ve ever done. So how could I not include it?” Lavene says.

Lavene jokes, “I’m like The Beatles, but a little bit Tom Waits, a little bit Whitesnake, a little bit Chas & Dave, and a little bit power ballads.” All worthy comparisons, but ultimately Scott Lavene is the kind of artist that can be compared only to himself.