Debut album from Anton Lewis

Liverpool-born singer-songwriter and producer Anton Lewis has spent years creating a musical offering that moves between folk, acoustic pop, blues, soul and indie rock, while echoes of alternative rock and electronic pop provide another side to his creative vision. Warm melodies and candid lyricism remain at the centre, with love, memory, nostalgia and the passage of time recurring throughout his songwriting.

Growing up in Liverpool and the Wirral, Anton began his musical journey performing with his first band before eventually stepping forward as a solo artist. Support from BBC Introducing and performances at venues across the UK followed, giving him the opportunity to develop his music further. He first shared his original sound in 2018 with the debut single “How?,” beginning a run of songs that would eventually lead towards his first full-length release.

Now, that album titled Someday // Yesterday, presents an extended conversation between the past and present; bringing together songs written across more than a decade, it revisits material Anton first penned during his late teens and early twenties, alongside songs from more recent years. Recorded in Liverpool with long-time collaborator and producer Alex Bell, the project gives those earlier compositions a new context, preserving their emotional tone while allowing them to take shape in new ways.

The title captures that idea perfectly and Someday // Yesterday is concerned with moments, relationships and ambitions that once belonged to an earlier version of Anton, but which have not necessarily lost their relevance. The album returns to them, giving old demos and live staples the studio treatment they always deserved and discovering new meaning in the process.

For the release, Anton also worked with several session musicians for the first time, adding new energy and flair to the recordings. The drumming of Pellegrino Bosco and Lucas Seoane propelled a number of tracks, while Sailesh Luchmun’s piano, string and drum arrangements played a particularly important role in transforming “Someday.” The rock-influenced intensity of opening track “Vanilla” maps out one side of Anton’s sound, serving up a driving anthem brimming with grooving rhythm and moody vocal performance spinning infectious hooks above biting guitar layers.

“Someday” slows things down with a delicate scene of elegant strings, intricate guitar and gently tapped percussion as Anton’s expressive voice floats above to cast a breezy sound of soul rock music. “All I Want” offers something more intimate with a folk-style acoustic arrangement forming a dreamy backdrop for Anton’s emotive vocal leads. The track has been part of his live sets since 2015, making its appearance on the album particularly significant as a song carried forward from an earlier chapter of his musical life.

Other highlights on the album include songs like “Lords of the Desert” with its buoyant rhythmic sway and hushed vocals crafting a catchy folk pop sound. “Alone” leans into a bluesy sound where grooving guitar lines and pattering percussion is capped by Anton’s commanding vocals and cut with lively instrumental flourishes to deliver an epic showcase of his engaging songwriting and performance talent.

Innovative vocal techniques become part of the album’s sonic architecture, most dramatically on the closing track “Midnight,” which uses more than 60 vocal tracks to construct its apocalyptic soundscape. It’s here that Someday // Yesterday takes its biggest conceptual turn, with “Midnight” shifting towards something darker and political. Inspired by Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario, the song arose from Anton’s deep unease after reading the book and imagining the apocalyptic nightmare scenario it depicts.

Musically drawing on Everything Everything, Muse, Radiohead and Johnny Cash, “Midnight” combines story-driven songwriting with a cinematic darkness, providing a gripping final chapter to an album preoccupied with time. Ultimately, with Someday // Yesterday, Anton Lewis takes songs written across different stages of his life and allows them to exist together, giving old ideas new arrangements, new performances and new emotional impact.

Listen to Someday // Yesterday below