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SYDNEY MINSKY SARGEANT
Lunga
(Domino)Add date: 9.23.2025
Release date: 9.12.2025
Links:
Apple Music
Bandcamp
Domino
Instagram
Spotify
YouTube
Lunga is the sound of a door opening onto a pasture, fog rolling over grass as the sun rises in the distance; it is the sound of renewal, and a sense of optimism. These are glistering melodic songs, an antidote to the chaos and abrasive atmosphere of touring, and a beautiful side-step from the music that Sydney Minsky Sargeant has been recording as Working Men’s Club for the past seven years.
The 12 songs that mark Lunga were written over a period of years, beginning when Minsky Sargeant (who usually goes by Syd) was a teenager growing up in Todmorden and following a chronology to the present day. It’s a deeply personal insight and Lunga feels like a haven, a world we can all step into. Through the record’s unique personality, there are also delicate flourishes of Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, Bon Iver, Bill Callahan, and Robert Kirby’s lush string arrangements as drowsy, ethereal sounds hover in the background.
“I’m trying to wear my heart-on-my-sleeve a bit more, these songs come from a search for meaning and understanding. I’m always trying to unpick myself and those around me, the ones I love and loved the most. There were thoughts and feelings that these songs helped me express, address and make sense of. They document some of the most f*cked up places I’ve been in as-well as some of the most reflective, intimate and transcendent.”
Born in 2001, Minsky Sargeant is part of the first generation raised entirely in a digital world, and to an extent, the growing up he experienced stepping into the spotlight with WMC caused an inner turbulence. “The ultra-awareness of being in a band became a bit overwhelming,” says Syd. “I did some stupid shit, said some stupid things, and I got engrossed with myself.” The supple, romantic songs that mark this debut solo album are a reaction to this period, with a surprising tenderness and warmth running all the way through them.
The sessions for Lunga took place at The Nave Studios in Leeds – a studio Syd returned to after recording the first ever Working Men’s Club tracks there. He wrote the songs in a house that straddles the border between two counties, West Yorkshire and Lancashire, a strange hinterland of both places. The duality is captured with opposing musical forms running through his veins: electronic and folk, the dark and light, often quiet (Hazel Eyes) and sometimes ferocious (Chicken Wire). There are nods to Working Men’s Club’s previous album Fear Fear in ‘Lunga (Interlude)’ where the string section is sampled from ‘The Last One’. Syd says, “It felt important to cross reference this track because I wanted to finally come to various points of resolve within this album and then move on’. There are clever plays with cycles throughout Lunga, motifs appear, phrases repeat, seasons change.
For Minsky Sargeant, ‘New Day’ represents a complete moment of metamorphosis, “It’s about me moving on from the past six years of my life, growing up and moving away from a kind of adolescence. ‘I don’t think I was ever totally off the rails, but I was near that point”. In the forthcoming single, ‘Long Roads’, a track that buries itself deep in the subconscious, he says, “I don’t want to sound all hippy dippy, but this album helped me realise it’s ok to love and say that within a song because it’s a true and honest feeling and one that I’m not embarrassed to admit or accept. But it’s also ok to say I got some stuff wrong and I’m no perfect person. I’m just living each day trying to make sense of the world around me.”
As one of the North West’s most productive, and versatile musicians, Syd is a self-made force of nature whose dynamic, shock-laden live performances have seen him grace Glastonbury stages, tour the UK and Europe, appear on Later with Jools Holland and be feted by such renowned musicians as Atticus Ross (NIN), Cabaret Voltaire’s Stephen Mallinder and Confidence Man for his critically acclaimed albums as Working Men’s Club. As a testament to his prolificness and deep understanding of songwriting and production, Syd recently joined forces with Daniel Avery and Ghost Culture to form the new collaborative project Demise of Love. He has contributed vocals to a duet with System Olympia, regularly remixes other artists and co-curates a lineup as a resident at his monthly clubnight in Todmorden. He co-produced Lunga alongside long-time collaborator Alex Greaves (who had encouraged him to put the solo songs he was writing down in the studio), Minsky Sargeant also plays most of the instruments on the record. It’s very easy to forget that he is still just 23 years old.
At points, Lunga evokes emotions of guilt, loneliness, anger but presents them with a sense of acceptance, the urge for peace from the past and a longing for a new chapter. Syd remarks that a ‘Lunga’ for him, and to a greater extent the album itself, “is another way of saying we are all one and the same deep down and that we should try to remember that a little more. In a world that has never felt so scary and polarised, I just hope this album connects with people.”
Out of a tumultuous personal period of growth, Sydney Minsky Sargeant has metamorphosised into one of the most original, fearless, and creatively ambitious talents. He is the real deal. With Lunga, an audacious, singular vision is realised.
Apple Music
Bandcamp
Domino
Spotify
YouTube
Lunga is the sound of a door opening onto a pasture, fog rolling over grass as the sun rises in the distance; it is the sound of renewal, and a sense of optimism. These are glistering melodic songs, an antidote to the chaos and abrasive atmosphere of touring, and a beautiful side-step from the music that Sydney Minsky Sargeant has been recording as Working Men’s Club for the past seven years.
The 12 songs that mark Lunga were written over a period of years, beginning when Minsky Sargeant (who usually goes by Syd) was a teenager growing up in Todmorden and following a chronology to the present day. It’s a deeply personal insight and Lunga feels like a haven, a world we can all step into. Through the record’s unique personality, there are also delicate flourishes of Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, Bon Iver, Bill Callahan, and Robert Kirby’s lush string arrangements as drowsy, ethereal sounds hover in the background.
“I’m trying to wear my heart-on-my-sleeve a bit more, these songs come from a search for meaning and understanding. I’m always trying to unpick myself and those around me, the ones I love and loved the most. There were thoughts and feelings that these songs helped me express, address and make sense of. They document some of the most f*cked up places I’ve been in as-well as some of the most reflective, intimate and transcendent.”
Born in 2001, Minsky Sargeant is part of the first generation raised entirely in a digital world, and to an extent, the growing up he experienced stepping into the spotlight with WMC caused an inner turbulence. “The ultra-awareness of being in a band became a bit overwhelming,” says Syd. “I did some stupid shit, said some stupid things, and I got engrossed with myself.” The supple, romantic songs that mark this debut solo album are a reaction to this period, with a surprising tenderness and warmth running all the way through them.
The sessions for Lunga took place at The Nave Studios in Leeds – a studio Syd returned to after recording the first ever Working Men’s Club tracks there. He wrote the songs in a house that straddles the border between two counties, West Yorkshire and Lancashire, a strange hinterland of both places. The duality is captured with opposing musical forms running through his veins: electronic and folk, the dark and light, often quiet (Hazel Eyes) and sometimes ferocious (Chicken Wire). There are nods to Working Men’s Club’s previous album Fear Fear in ‘Lunga (Interlude)’ where the string section is sampled from ‘The Last One’. Syd says, “It felt important to cross reference this track because I wanted to finally come to various points of resolve within this album and then move on’. There are clever plays with cycles throughout Lunga, motifs appear, phrases repeat, seasons change.
For Minsky Sargeant, ‘New Day’ represents a complete moment of metamorphosis, “It’s about me moving on from the past six years of my life, growing up and moving away from a kind of adolescence. ‘I don’t think I was ever totally off the rails, but I was near that point”. In the forthcoming single, ‘Long Roads’, a track that buries itself deep in the subconscious, he says, “I don’t want to sound all hippy dippy, but this album helped me realise it’s ok to love and say that within a song because it’s a true and honest feeling and one that I’m not embarrassed to admit or accept. But it’s also ok to say I got some stuff wrong and I’m no perfect person. I’m just living each day trying to make sense of the world around me.”
As one of the North West’s most productive, and versatile musicians, Syd is a self-made force of nature whose dynamic, shock-laden live performances have seen him grace Glastonbury stages, tour the UK and Europe, appear on Later with Jools Holland and be feted by such renowned musicians as Atticus Ross (NIN), Cabaret Voltaire’s Stephen Mallinder and Confidence Man for his critically acclaimed albums as Working Men’s Club. As a testament to his prolificness and deep understanding of songwriting and production, Syd recently joined forces with Daniel Avery and Ghost Culture to form the new collaborative project Demise of Love. He has contributed vocals to a duet with System Olympia, regularly remixes other artists and co-curates a lineup as a resident at his monthly clubnight in Todmorden. He co-produced Lunga alongside long-time collaborator Alex Greaves (who had encouraged him to put the solo songs he was writing down in the studio), Minsky Sargeant also plays most of the instruments on the record. It’s very easy to forget that he is still just 23 years old.
At points, Lunga evokes emotions of guilt, loneliness, anger but presents them with a sense of acceptance, the urge for peace from the past and a longing for a new chapter. Syd remarks that a ‘Lunga’ for him, and to a greater extent the album itself, “is another way of saying we are all one and the same deep down and that we should try to remember that a little more. In a world that has never felt so scary and polarised, I just hope this album connects with people.”
Out of a tumultuous personal period of growth, Sydney Minsky Sargeant has metamorphosised into one of the most original, fearless, and creatively ambitious talents. He is the real deal. With Lunga, an audacious, singular vision is realised.