An Inconvenience At Best is the first full-length from Meet Me In Lavender Town. A lot poppier and catchier than previous efforts, it kinda bridges the gap between the Easycore and Nintendocore bands I listened to when I was younger. It's the album I wish I'd heard when I was discovering music, but I'd like to think it's got something for everyone. It's an ode to nostalgia, escapism and trying to keep your head above the water.

Hoping to follow up my first EP and explore new sounds, I started writing an album before the pandemic, back in February 2020, after a car accident left me with no transport for a week. I spent that week writing in the garden at my parents’ place and in cafes across Canterbury. When the pandemic started to affect my locale, I became pretty stressed out and laid it to rest for a bit. Revisiting the record in autumn, I decided to scrap it completely and start again, with more of a focus on melody and taking far more influence from pop punk and easycore bands than I had before – as well as a running theme of trying to keep a posi attitude and escapism. I wrote the first three songs and released them one Sunday, and a pretty positive reaction encouraged me to write most of the other songs within the next week. Okay was written last, on the day I mastered the album for the first time. It seemed like a pretty solid high to end on, and I knew I had to get Eric to sing on it having discovered his covers the previous weekend.

Thanks to everyone who sat through and listened, giving me feedback on mixes, and to anyone who hyped it up, too. It’s been a massive learning curve in terms of production and writing, and even just the little encouragement I got from my friends and people in the Nintendocore/Cybergrind scene especially helped me to finish the record – there are too many to name but I love that the isolation forced by a global pandemic really helped me to find my people. Special thanks to Eric and John for providing some wonderful additional vocals - I’ve been a great admirer of their respective work and they knocked it out the park on those tracks. Finally, thanks to Laurence for bringing the artwork to life exactly as I’d pictured it in my mind! I wholeheartedly encourage you to check out all these guys' work.

Music and words by Meet Me In Lavender Town – additional vocals and lyrics on track 10 by John Nelson of Unicorn Hole and additional vocals on track 2 by Eric Krolak.
Artwork by Laurence Crow.

John - unicornhole.bandcamp.com
Eric - www.youtube.com/channel/UC85KapktvV-PT8_BAnWG37Q
Laurence - laurencecrowillustration.com