London Grammar launches understated new single ‘Big Picture’
We had to wait for almost four years, but now that London Grammar is officially back, they are moving quickly. After they treated our hangovers on New Years Day with the gorgeous ballad ‘Rooting For You’, complete with half a capella and half orchestrated video, they start off the second month of 2017 with ‘Big Picture’. This track will be promoted as the official first single taken from their upcoming second album. Based on those two songs, this album will make its way on to quite some end of year lists!
London Grammar’s Hannah Reid, Dan Rothman and Dot Major got some help from producer and musician Jon Hopkins, who worked with Brian Eno and Coldplay before, for ‘Big Picture’. The track stands out with a stunning build up, starting out with piano, joined by guitar, subtle synths and some soft percussion. Again, it is Hannah’s majestic voice that steals the show. In the lyrics, Hannah looks back on an ex lover who did not treat her right: “Don’t say you ever loved me, don’t say you ever cared, my darkest friend”, she concludes in a ethereal post chorus that fades into an instrumental outro. It might not be as instant as a single like ‘Wasting My Young Years’, but it certainly has more radio potential than ‘Rooting For You’. In the end it doesn’t matter all that much anyway, because London Grammar’s output is still consistently brilliant.