You can do a lot in 10 years: train to be a doctor, pick up and drop countless new hobbies, or finally make it through that stack of books collecting dust on your nightstand. In the case of London Grammar, though, they’ve gone from teenagers making music alongside their university studies to one of the UK’s most beloved acts; a band who have just kicked off a massive arena tour of Europe and the UK, including an upcoming show at London’s colossal O2.
With their distinct blend of trip-hop, indie and electronic music – all bolstered by frontwoman Hannah Reid’s sonorous vocals – the trio have built a loyal fanbase over the years. Emerging as a buzzy band to watch in 2013 with their first EP ‘Metal & Dust’ and then debut album ‘If You Wait’, they charmed audiences with era-defining songs like ‘Wasting My Young Years’ and ‘Hey Now’. A further two records followed – 2017’s steadier ‘Truth Is a Beautiful Thing’, which received mixed reviews from critics, and 2021’s jubilant ‘Californian Soil’, a record on which NME noted “London Grammar are revitalised” – alongside shows across the world.
In some ways, though, the band feel like their latest record, September’s ‘The Greatest Love’, is the end of a chapter – and the start of a new one. “This album, to me, this whole process [of making it] even, is us just actually letting go in a way,” says multi-instrumentalist Dan Rothman, calling in from London Grammar’s studio in Ladbroke Grove. “There’s a feeling of it; it exists between the three of us. I can’t explain…”
Rothman’s bandmate Dot Major, sitting beside him, helps sum it up: “It feels like a rebirth.”
“It does!” Rothman agrees. “It’s the end of an era of our lives. It’s like the death of our youth…”
“I would love for us to disappear entirely behind the music” – Hannah Reid
It may be a rebirth, but ‘The Greatest Love’ still embraces everything listeners love about the band’s music: soaring melodies (‘You & I’, ‘Ordinary Life’), house-flecked euphoria (‘House’, ‘Rescue’), and blissful, slow-burning festival anthems (‘Into Gold’). That’s not to say that there haven’t been major shifts while creating the record, both literally and metaphorically.
“This is the first album [where] we’ve ever had our own space,” Major reflects, referring to the new London Grammar HQ, the band’s aforementioned studio in West London. “That’s a huge shift, really.” Previously, the band would write demos, then go into a “big commercial studio” for a few weeks, knowing they had to wrap the record in that set amount of time. Having their own space, however, means “you can go and work on something for a few days, and it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t end up being right,” Major explains. “There’s a lot of similarities to our first album when we started doing a lot of stuff on laptops because we didn’t have our own space.”
Reflecting on what’s changed for ‘The Greatest Love’ leads us to the keystones of London Grammar. One thing that’s still central 10 years in is their friendship – indeed, a band couldn’t have this kind of longevity without it. They have the kind of close-knit family dynamic that only a decade of working together, shared experiences and bunking on tour buses together can foster.
The group have supported each other through highs and lows, from difficult situations navigating the thorny landscape of the music industry, the brutal schedule of touring and being a working band, to Reid’s experience of rampant music industry misogyny, a topic covered throughout the band’s music, but particularly on previous record ‘Californian Soil’. As she reflected to NME around that record’s release: “If I’m strong-minded, I’m being really ‘difficult’, or I’m being a ‘bitch’…whereas for the boys they’ve just got ‘integrity’ over what they do. It can be a really, really tiny thing – but if you have it every day, and it becomes a thousand moments, it can actually change who you are.”
When asked how the group define success, Major tells his bandmates: “I really feel like success is how I – how we – feel about each other. When I think about where we are, our friendships, and the love I have for these two, that’s how I feel what success is.”
This revelation is met with smiles from his bandmates. “Aw, Dot!” Reid exclaims, while Rothman adds: “That’s extremely sweet.”
“When I think about where we are, our friendships, and the love I have for these two, that’s how I feel what success is” – Dot Major
“That’s genuinely how I feel,” Major continues. “To be at this point of our lives… not many artists are able to get there. We’ve always said from the beginning we wanted to have longevity, and I think the reality when you get there is: ‘What will that look like?’ And actually, what it looks like now is pretty fucking great.”
Rothman agrees: “When we played Glastonbury this year, there was something about that show that encapsulated for all of us what success is in a way because, suddenly, it felt like we were on stage, looking back at our lives, looking back at the work that we’ve done, and you’re playing these songs that they’ve grown over time.”
He turns his attention to the band’s second album, ‘Truth Is a Beautiful Thing’, a record he notes people “were very critical of”. It’s a self-deprecating statement, perhaps, but after the dizzying success of the band’s debut, the melancholy follow-up received a disparate collection of reviews. “[Now,] our fans love it more than the rest of it,” he laughs. “They think the new stuff is terrible compared to the second album! That legacy aspect of it, that really interests me at the moment…”
Reid interrupts with a laugh: “Aw Dan, you think you’re on your deathbed!”
“No, actually, I feel the opposite!” Rothman responds. “It’s more I can see the future and the past, that to me is the success part. The body of work, that’s what’s so lovely.”
Whatever their status in the industry’s hierarchy, there’s a new confidence in the ‘The Greatest Love’ that can’t be denied, one that’s in the bones of the record. Take ‘House’, the record’s floor-filling opener, where Reid sings about setting boundaries: “This is my place, my house, my rules”. Being able to make these sorts of decisions comes with the assurance that only life experience and maturity can bring.
Looking to the future, the band are keen to exercise some new boundaries and put the entire focus on the music. Reid says: “I would love for us to disappear entirely behind the music, and to still make what we consider is great music, and I hope that our fans will still be there.” Previously, London Grammar have suggested this album could be the last time the band appears in their music videos, revelling in the fact that while they’re playing London’s 20,000-capacity O2, they can still walk down the street without being swarmed by fans.
In a time when artists’ personalities are often used as marketing strategies, why do they feel comfortable pulling back? “I think because we keep trying, and it just doesn’t work,” Reid explains. “I literally have tried so many times to be in music videos, to look good, and I just don’t think it works.” She lets out an exasperated laugh. “So I’m over it now. Done. Never again.”
“There was something about Glastonbury 2024 that encapsulated for all of us what success is” – Dan Rothman
In the future, if fans want to see the band members’ faces, they might only have the option at their live shows, which grow steadily bigger. The aforementioned O2 show is their biggest headline date so far, and the nerves are creeping up on Reid as it draws nearer. “I am in denial, so I’m just going to not say anything,” she shares. “A little tiddle at the O2,” Major adds jokingly.
With a decade behind them, there’s still plenty of excitement for the trio’s future, too. Right now, on the cusp of an end and a new beginning, London Grammar are entering their second decade as a band with new confidence – and one of the biggest shows of their careers. Here’s to the next 10 years.
London Grammar’s ‘The Greatest Love’ is out now via Ministry Of Sound Recordings. The band are on tour now