The music of ‘The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light’ is inextricably linked to the dancefloor, with tidal waves of bass, garage and house laced in, an experience akin to stumbling through different rooms of the club. Skinner, as always, is the keen eye tying his disparate world together, shining with his customary lyrical wizardry and eclectic production. The record is a classic Streets album - with all songs written by Skinner but featuring vocal contributions from longtime collaborators Kevin Mark Trail and Robert Harvey, as well as a track featuring Teef.
‘The Darker The Shadow, The Brighter The Light’ film is a tripped out noir murder mystery based in Londons’ clubland. Skinner has written, directed, shot, edited, scored, funded, and even created his own special effects on the film, shooting at a number of different locations in 2022 across the UK. The songs on the album soundtrack the film and also play the role of narrator of the film at times - and whilst neither the album or film exist without each other - both can be enjoyed separately.
The album will also be supported by a full, headline The Streets tour across the United Kingdom, commencing in late October, with support from Hak Baker, Joy Anonymous and Master Peace, dates below.
The Streets broke through in 2002 with the Mercury Prize nominated 'Original Pirate Material' – widely regarded as one of the most influential British albums of recent times, whose impact on culture and UK music can still be felt to this day. Four BRIT Award nominations for Best Album, Best Urban Act, Best Breakthrough Artist and Best British Male Solo Artist followed. “Dry Your Eyes”, from 2005 follow-up album 'A Grand Don’t Come For Free', won an Ivor Novello for Best Song Musically And Lyrically. Skinner additionally received a BRIT Award that same year, for best British Male Solo Artist.
Since then, The Streets have released further LPs “The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living” (2006), Everything Is Borrowed (2008), Computer and Blues (2011) and 2020’s mixtape “None Of Us Are Getting Out of This Alive”, and Skinner has collaborated with a who's who of British music – from Kano, to Fred Again, Greentea Peng and Giggs. In recent years, and with his Mike Skinner LTD label, he’s worked with artists at the tip of the spear of breaking British music, with acts like FLOHIO, Ghetts and Grim Sickers.
An inimitable live performer with bountiful experience both behind the decks and on the microphone, Skinner is renowned for his boisterous onstage presence and ability to grip audiences from crowded basements to Glastonbury headline slots. Whether it’s a live-streamed lockdown performance or a garage and bassline DJ set, Skinner commands the stage with undeniable presence and a quintessentially British tongue-in-cheek attitude. When The Streets announced a comeback tour in 2017, tickets for the dates sold out in less than a minute. It’s all testament to the impact The Streets have had, and continue to have, across several generations of musicians and fans alike.
