Often in this line of work, you end up taking 10 minutes out of somebody’s life that they don’t want to give. This is one of those moments. Murray Lightburn is being pushed in my direction by a publicist who has his best interests at heart. He, though, is half asleep.
“We’ve just got in from Switzerland,” he yawns. “We came by bus, left last night and I haven’t slept. I can’t sleep on those things.”
In an hour, Lightburn will be expected to entertain a packed New Bands tent at the Oxegen festival with tracks from The Dears' darkly romantic No Cities Left LP.
He’s in no form for anything, however. His body language seems to say ‘anywhere but here’. Snappy and blunt Lightburn, the group’s driving force, is extremely irritable in the early part of our interview.
Proceeding to prod him for information, I put it to him that he must have been surprised at the critical and relative commercial success of No Cities Left, the Canadians’ debut this side of the Atlantic.
“Well it’s hard to be surprised when you don’t really have any expectations at all, and I didn’t,” he says matter-of-factly. “You know maybe I had some hope that it would do well, but you know, it’s a great album. Obviously it has its production shortcomings but I think the songs are really great, I think the sentiment behind the songs is also really great.”
That sentiment is one of bleakness and loss. But Lightburn is at pains to point out that it’s also a record full of hope.
“It was written out of a very dark time. Like, just when we started making it, two planes flew into the World Trade Center. Just when you think that shit isn’t happening, shit happens in Madrid and again, just the other day, in London.
“But even though people think the album’s dark, there’s still that thing on it where you are looking for the right thing,” he continues.
“It’s like you describe the darkness but you’re looking for a way to eradicate it and how you do that is really through love, and I guess that’s what we are all clawing towards more than ever.
“Well, some of us are. Some of us aren’t. Some of us just strap a bomb to ourselves, walk on a bus, and kill a bunch of people.”
If he had no inkling that No Cities Left would be a success in the UK, then surely he must have been excited to arrive in the country?
He is, I’m told, a committed Anglophile and The Dears have enjoyed complimentary comparisons to The Smiths. Certainly Lightburn, in his demeanour, is reminiscent of Morrissey.
“Initially I enjoyed England but you sort of get the sense that because you’re not from there, it’s a little harder to break in and be comfortable,” he avers. “You’re always feeling like you don’t belong, and people are telling you that you don’t belong. That’s fine though, I can deal with that. That’s the story of my life. My entire life, people made me feel like I didn’t belong. That’s a good thing, though, because it keeps you on your toes and if you’re not on your toes eventually you’ll have nothing to say.”
Time’s up. One last question: is being accepted important to him? Lightburn pauses, rubs his eyes and shakes my hand. He’s about to walk off.
“Oh yeah, your answer. Em, not really.”