Hello and welcome to the new website. This is the place you can find out everything you wish to know about the forthcoming single and album, the book of graphic novellas, the first live shows, as well as reading the diary page on which Shirley will try to convey what 2009 is really like for a Shirley Lee in London…

The first single from the album is released on 26 January. It’s called “The Smack Of Pavement In Your Face”, and we’ll post the links for pre-ordering it as soon as we have them.

That’s followed by the eponymous debut album on 16 February. The songs featured on the album are mainly personal love songs, hence the decision for this to be solo, rather than Spearmint. The tracklisting:

1 Upside Down On Brighton Beach
2 Dissolving Time
3 Spiralina Girl
4 The Lights Change
5 Come On Feel The Lemonheads
6 The Smack Of Pavement In Your Face
7 London Ghost Stories
8 Walked Away
9 Smitten
10 The First Time You Saw Snow
11 The Traffic In The Street
12 The Reservoir
13 The Last Song

All of Spearmint play on the album, and the artwork and photos in the 16-page lyrics booklet are by Jim as usual. And in honor of this being a debut album, it will be released on a new label called “Missing Page”, distributed via Weatherbox and Pinnacle.

Also on 16 February, the University Of California publishes a book celebrating the lyrics of Shirley Lee. 24 songs, including tracks from the new album as well as Spearmint classics have been interpreted by different artists as graphic novellas, and are presented in a 12″ by 12″ book. More news about this soon…

Gigs

Shirley and the band will be playing live shows from February onwards – details will be published here as they are confirmed. The first will be with The Bittersprings at The Rhythm Factory in London on Saturday 14 February,

One last thing: we’re looking for someone to help us… Somebody who would like to gain experience of this sort of thing, is prepared to help for little or no cash, and can have a go at badgering the music business on behalf of Shirley and Spearmint to confirm gigs – perhaps create opportunities for the songs to be featured in films etc. If this sounds appealing then please send an email to us.

Oh, and Spearmint? They’ll be back with new material in September to celebrate 10 years since the release of debut album “A Week Away”.