Jamie Lawson - Moving Images EP (Album Review)
A hardworking but relatively under-the-radar troubadour since the early 2000s, Jamie Lawson released a string of EPs and two LPs before coming to fame in 2015 as the first signing to Ed Sheeran’s Gingerbread Man Records label. Since then, Lawson has supported the megastar on stadium tours, released three albums (including a UK number 1) and won an Ivor Novello. You’ll agree that there are crappier ways in which to start your forties but, following the whirlwind, it seems that Lawson - who’s recently become a father - is now ready for a somewhat quieter life.
For his new, self-recorded EP, Moving Images, Jamie returns to Lookout Mountain Records; the small label that released his second LP, The Pull Of The Moon, in 2009. Musically, the territory is familiar; Lawson’s built a career out of crafting heart-tearing ballads and he’s clearly not about to pack that in. ‘Perfect Year’ opens the record, completely wet through with strings and big, washy cymbals. It’s a blush-inducing, gush-tastic dedication, surely destined to find its home over the end credits of a Richard Curtis film. And, as if a song like this needed a cute backstory, get this: it was written as a present to Mrs L, apparently while she “nipped to Tesco” the day before their anniversary. Now then, go and fix your mascara; I’ll wait.
With heartbeat drums and a characterful string part, ‘She Sings For Me’ houses shabbily romantic lines like “I write your name in the dust on the mantel” but the song itself has more to do with the healing powers of music than outpourings of affection. Cynics will no doubt struggle with the wide-eyed earnestness but few can dispute Lawson’s songcraft here and even fewer will be able to resist that aching, Duritzian vocal delivery.
Next, there is more prime first-dance fodder in the form of ‘And You Saved Me’, which is sadly blighted by over-insistent strings, but the more oblique ‘I Loved You Then’ is much more satisfying, musing on mortality and the nature of time and memory. The song’s minimal Rhodes and beautifully incongruous lo-fi beats are perfectly placed against Lawson’s ever-disarming voice. Co-written with Jez Ashurst, the EP’s final track ‘Closure’ (yes, it’s a weepie) is perfectly spare; just piano, solo vocal and light-touch atmospherics. Quite apart from the fact that it is a three and a half minute exemplar of world-class songwriting, it’s a reminder that, for artists like Jamie Lawson, less is almost always more.
While Lawson’s successes will forever be associated with the red-headed chap who gave him his break, this EP represents a new chapter in which Jamie Lawson is making music under his own terms again. It also signals a return to the shorter format, which is arguably a better fit for music that is this heavy with emotion. The fact that - musically speaking - little has changed is a mark of how untainted by commercial considerations his time in the spotlight has been. But what Moving Images proves beyond doubt is that Jamie Lawson doesn’t need stadiums; he doesn’t need a household name as his champion (though I guess that helps) and he usually tastes better without sprinkles on top. Just give him a guitar and your undivided and you’ll find it’s more than enough.
Moving Images is released on May 29th, 2020 via Lookout Mountain Records.
Review by Rich Barnard
A new name to me, but based on the new EP, ‘Tigers in Your Backyard (Nocturnal Edition)’, Molly Murphy is one to watch. Initially, Molly embarked on a promising college career as a double Film and English Major pursuing a career in screenwriting but left all that behind to form a band (as you do). Murphy’s latest release finds the singer-songwriter adding a modern sheen to her traditional Celtic roots.