The Answering Machine - Lifeline

Recorded throughout the spring of 2010 by frontman and first time producer Martin Colclough, ‘LIFELINE’ is the album
that everybody believed The Answering Machine could make. A departure and a knowing deviation from the sound that
established the band on 2009’s angular debut ‘Another City, Another Sorry’, ‘LIFELINE’ is a unique, intelligent and diverse
LP. Stylistically extensive, the album clicks between moments of post rock magnificence to glitch-driven programming; at
once inhaling a varied catalogue of influences and exhaling a body of work that will top End of Year polls. Preceded by
the title track, ‘Lifeline’ which is to be released as a single on February 14th the album itself is due for physical and digital
release a week later on Febraury 21st.

After working with producers from London and New York, writing songs in Tokyo, demoing in sky scrapers and honing
ideas in Brooklyn, it became obvious that ‘home’ was the perfect place to pull ‘LIFELINE’ together. The cliché goes that
record producers are the so-called ‘fifth member’ of the band but Manchester’s The Answering Machine decided to keep
things simple and opted for an actual member of the band to produce their second album. After several successful remix
projects, frontman Martin Colclough decided to step up to the role. What followed was not an expensive studio, engineers
or remote location; instead the band opted for their underground practice room in the city centre. From six feet under
they emerged with their lifeline.

While journalists stalked the streets murmuring buzz words and hailing the new ‘Manchester scene’ The Answering
Machine were hard to find. They were in fact below the city campaigning for change, creating a record that is far
removed from people’s expectations of them, peeling all the layers of what journalists and fans had deemed them to be
and avoiding being caught up in any industry onslaught on their city. They stand alone and by doing so have rediscovered
themselves, their identity and uncovered a new sound. Central to this regeneration has been the acquisition of a number
of vintage synths passed down from the Factory Records band ‘Repetition’. These, along with pump organs and acoustic
guitars, opened up a new and more collaborative way of writing for the band.

There are no gimmicks, stories or press angles for The Answering Machine on their second album campaign. This is
because what the band have created and achieved is truly remarkable and therefore the ONLY thing worth writing about.
Musically eclectic, textural and complex, lyrically sophisticated, honest and striking ‘LIFELINE’ is a very special record; the
first great record of 2011. It documents a band reborn, a band who have taken the model of Radiohead and The Beatles
before them, determined to make a record that sounds nothing like their last. They have succeeded with a grace and
elegance all of their own.

TRACKLISTING:

1. My Little Navy
2. Lifeline
3. Animals
4. 3 Miles
5. Romantic and Square
6. Anything Anything
7. Hospital Lung
8. Rules
9. Video 8
10. So Alive
11. The End

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