The keyboardist has parted ways with the band because he had found the past year "increasingly unenjoyable" and "growing apart from the rest of the band"

 

The band made a short statement about this on MySpace:

Alex Pennie, who's been in The Automatic since 2003, played his last gigs with the band at the recent Get Loaded In The Park festival (25th-26th August) and has left after due to finding the last year increasingly unenjoyable and growing apart from the rest of the band
The three members of The Automatic – Rob Hawkins, James Frost and Iwan Griffiths – will soon be flying to the USA to start recording the follow up to their debut album Not Accepted Anywhere and are looking forward to announcing more news soon
It will be really weird to hear this band without Pennie, but... here's hoping for the best, especially since they're heading into the studio soon.