Ministry Of Sound managing director Amy Wheatley has praised London Grammar’s “uniqueness” as the band and their team get set to celebrate a second consecutive No.1 album.
Californian Soil was heading towards the 30,000 sales mark at Wednesday’s midweek count, with the vast majority of sales coming via physical formats. London Grammar have been teasing their return since releasing comeback track Baby It’s You (16,366,035 Spotify streams) last year, and Hannah Reid starred on Music Week’s digital cover, giving an interview that called out sexism and misogyny in the music business.
“I think Hannah being able to have a voice and have a platform to talk about it is really brave,” said Ministry’s Wheatley. “She says it so eloquently as well. Way more eloquently than I could.”
September Management’s Rose Moon, who looks after the band with Jonathan Dickins, said that Reid has “definitely had a bit of a rough journey over the years”.
“I love her dearly and I just want to give her some form of confidence to help build herself,” Moon added. “And for her to believe in herself as an incredible singer, and songwriter, and musician.”
Moon said that Californian Soil represents the group’s best work yet.
“We started working with them at the end of their first album campaign and they landed on our doorstep a bit broken,” Moon said. “They were exhausted and overworked and just didn’t know who they were. So, instantly, my main focus was on rebuilding confidence and making them believe in them. Because they are an incredibly talented band.”
London Grammar’s Reid told Music Week that September “care so deeply about the artists they work with, you have to be able to have absolute transparency and honesty. And that’s what we have with Jonathan and Rose.”
Reid said that she is inspired greatly by working with Rose Moon in particular.
“Rose is a total inspiration to me, the way she has handled herself in the industry, always being firm and fair,” she said.
The band – completed by Dan Rothman and Dot Major – have built a similarly strong bond with Ministry Of Sound, where they were signed long before Dipesh Parmar became president.
“At Ministry of Sound we’re always trying to push boundaries,” said Amy Wheatley. “And London Grammar fit right in with that, they cannot be pigeon-holed, they’re just unique.”
“It takes trust and takes time to build trust, to make sure the band are getting what they need and want from the label,” she said. “On the whole, we've got a really good relationship between us and I feel like we can have honest conversations.”
President Parmar looks likely to get his wish of another No.1 record, but he stressed that Californian Soil will stand the test of time, too.
“Our hopes for this album are for it to last for years to come and for more and more people to discover the band,” he said.
Subscribers can read our London Grammar digital cover story in full here. Read our Ministry Of Sound cover interview from June 2020 here.
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