Dilettante, the project of Leeds-born multi-instrumentalist and ‘Paul Hamlyn’ award-winning composer Francesca Pidgeon, is set to release her highly anticipated second album Life Of The Party on January 24th, 2025, via Launchpad+ / EMI North. The album is a journey of self-discovery and acceptance, set to a backdrop of lush arrangements, sharp lyrics, and the unmistakable sound of an artist coming into her own.

 

Known for her loop heavy live shows and contagious art pop, when not making music as Dilettante, Francesca also moonlights as a member of BC Camplight. In 2022, Dilettante released her debut album Tantrum, which received widespread support from BBC Radio 6 Music, leading to sold-out headline shows across the north of the UK, as well as opportunities to support prominent artists like Self Esteem, Caribou, and Graham Coxon.

 

Now Dilettante returns with Life of the Party, her first totally self-produced record and her most personal one yet.  Made in the confines of a converted freight container, the album is an outpouring of frustration towards societal pressures and the acceptance of realising she sees the world differently to others.

 

The album covers a range of topics, from turning thirty and feeling the pressure to start a family, to grappling with the constraints of monogamous relationships and the realisation of her neurodivergence. “I started talking to people about their experiences with getting Autism/ADHD diagnoses last year,” Pidgeon shares, “and it felt like a bit of a light bulb moment for me where I realised that maybe there was actually something inherently different in the way I was experiencing the world, and that was why I’d always struggled connecting with most people.”