Jamie Lenman

Jamie Lenman, who had fronted British alt-rock outfit Reuben as lead vocalist and chief songwriter, embarked on a solo path once the group entered indefinite hiatus. Born in 1982 in Camberley, the prosperous commuter town in Surrey lying some thirty miles south of London, he had always regarded illustration as his main vocation, having begun sketching at the age of eight under the influence of Charles Schulz and Jim Davis; he once described his musical activities as a mere “sidestep.” While performing with Reuben he supplied all the band’s album artwork, later contributing illustrations to the Guardian, several children’s books, and Doctor Who Magazine. As a youngster he studied piano, saxophone, and guitar. He first encountered bassist Jon Pearce in 1996, the pair subsequently forming Reuben. The band emerged in 2001 and notched four U.K. hit singles with their high-energy fusion of punkish rock and alternative metal, issuing three albums before the 2008 hiatus. Lenman then concentrated again on illustration while still composing in fits and starts; in 2014 he enlisted a friend to finish several unfinished pieces, resulting in his debut solo album Muscle Memory, whose stylistic breadth extended to jazz and folk elements absent from his Reuben work. His second solo album, Devolver, appeared in 2017. After its release he toured, including a limited, invite-only performance at London’s St. Pancras Church; the lengthy set surfaced in 2018 as Live at St. Pancras, closing the chapter of recording, releasing, and promoting Devolver. In 2019 Lenman again joined producer Space, who had recorded Devolver, for a set of covers. Issued that same year, Shuffle presented both favorite songs by other artists and an eclectic selection of spoken-word passages drawn from novels, movie soundtracks, and video-game music. Returning to original songwriting in 2020, Lenman released the mini-album King of Clubs. Working once more with Space, he channeled the fraught political climate into a group of socio-political and politically charged songs.