Scott Lavene is as English as pork pies and pasties, dunked biscuits in Yorkshire tea. Last year's album Disneyland in Dagenham was full of Essex, East End poetry, and classic English post punk. Following extensive touring including many sold-out shows, Scott is back with another album entitled, Cars, Buses, Bedsits and Shops out 22nd August on Nothing Fancy. An album bursting with more dark humour, snapshots of squalor and cheek, and Scott's unique love songs. Lavene has also announced a 22 date tour around the UK as well as festival appearances at this year's Glastonbury, End of the Road, Lakefest and Boia festivals. Produced by Stew Jackson, who's worked with Massive Attack, Black Crowes, Tom Waits and Nick Cave, the record shines with Scott's presence, alongside Ryan Rogers of Mumble Tide, co-producing and playing organs, synths and mellotron. The album came together quickly, in a five-day wonder, in Bristol, September 2024. Scott's longer story-based songs have taken a backseat on this record with more singing than before and a higher percentage of ballads, sincere, wistful and tender. They evoke the lyrics and feelings set down by Daniel Johnston and The Magnetic Fields, Evan Dando and the immense David Berman. But a few ratty stories still remain. Scott explains On tour, Id become used to playing the story based songs, the spoken word ones. But fans kept asking me why I didnt sing anymore, which surprised me. So over the course of a month I wrote a dozen proper songs, alongside Cars which was something I already had, a piece of writing that went into Bits and Bobs, my short poetry book I was selling at gigs. I knew I wanted to make something more classic and polished, and when I bumped into Stew at the Bristol show he told me we should make an album and it quickly got organised. Id been used to playing most of the instruments on the last two albums but Stew can play everything really well so he plays drums and guitars, let alone lap steel, and I just put down basic tracks and watched him and Ryan build the songs, while I sat on the sofa in the studio. Cars, Buses, Bedsits and Shops is fit to burst with colour, a slight change in the wacky production of old, the album is polished like a classic 70's American singer songwriter album, an ode to Wings, to yacht rock and Neil Young. Like if Wilco and Bruce Springsteen's baby was raised in Basildon. The combination of wry observation, humble wisdom, unguarded vulnerability and unpredictable humour makes Scott unique in today's expansive world of artists. Tragi-comic.Custard and Debbie and Lavene's stock-in-trade, mixing Baxter-Dury like roughshod poetry with Robyn Hitchcock's surrealist flair. Flute-looped Little Bird reveals a more delicate balladeer. (MOJO). Disneyland In Dagenham is endearing as a whole, glorious in parts, hilarious in others, and in its darkest corners, heartbreaking. Lavene's singular voice and relatable concerns infuse the album with an honesty and kindness that's rare, and leave the listener glowing with both admiration and empathy. (Under The Radar). It's world-class. All killer, no filler. An instant classic. Every song is a 10 out of 10. (Dangerous Minds). "Once upon a time, hed have found a home on Stiff Records, alongside Ian Dury and Wreckless Eric, even Jona Lewie, and hed have become a national treasure: he really is a very good writer, with an eye for the telling detail" (Spectator). Scott Lavene is a funny, droll, melancholic, eccentric, prolific, loveable musician, and his songs may just be the tonic you need. (The Book of Man). Bonkers sing-alongs about eating custard, weird reimaginings of geezer-down the pub anecdotes, nostalgic vignettes, and even the occasional love song in disguise. Sometimes spoken, sometimes sung, he retains hooks, even when surveying the most curious terrain. (Artsdesk). Songs filled with wit and wisdom, about everyday people and uncelebrated places, tears in your eye stuff from a laugh or a little cry. (Backseat Mafia). Lavene's attention to detail in both musical composition and storyline elevates Disneyland in Dagenham to new heights, providing listeners with a rich and fulfilling audio experience. (Scene Music Media).