The Lottery Winners – Something to Leave the House For

Last year’s self-titled debut launched the Lottery Winners high into the league tables of indie-pop newcomers, with a string of viral hits over the last year working quickly in their favour and a niche carved out for feel-good anthems that deliver a guaranteed hit of (renewable) energy. Something to Leave the House For updates the formula with some additional edge from Frank Turner, KT Tunstall and Sleeper’s Louise Wener, reminding listeners to keep looking on the bright side.

Opener Favourite Flavour is extremely upbeat, designed for incessant radio play, with a sweetness to the lyrics that veers here – as well as on later tracks like Much Better – too close to saccharine. The brightness becomes a little repetitive, even on Frank Turner feature Start Again, keeping the message vague and general enough that anybody could be moved by it, but at the expense (potentially) of grabbing the attention of new listeners with something more substantial. A highlight is the KT Tunstall collaboration Dance with the Devil, lyrically deviating from theme over a more thoughtfully put together mix of guitars, while Tunstall’s vocal falls perfectly in step. 

Something to Leave the House For is not a risky album – the speaker of Times Are Changing, despite the self-evident verity of the track’s title, doesn’t even commit to sounding sure of himself – but The Lottery Winners know how to write good songs. The gentle, engaging Hotel Deville stands out, as does the persuasive vocal on Love Bites and Overthink Everything’s acoustic guitar, but the band sticks to what they know, delivering a record made up mostly of formulaic songs that would go best with the hungover, sun-drenched, blissful afternoon that comes after the Friday night headliners.

Sylvia Unerman

Something to Leave the House For is released on 3^rd December 2021. For further information or to order the album visit The Lottery Winners’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Bad Things (featuring Sleeper) here: