Only fastidious admirers of British music eccentrics would be familiar with the name of Lawrence Hayward, a Birmingham-born songwriter and creative maverick who, from the late 1970s, has been overseer of the bands Felt, Denim and Go-Kart Mozart.
Weaving a thread from those bands to his latest musical incarnation (Mozart Estate), Lawrence finds a resolution of sorts to his heretofore cult status. In other words, the songs here, as has been the case for decades, zing with an oddball sensibility that remains with only the most committed idiosyncratic songwriters.
It seems that Lawrence, now in his early 60s and living the life of a relative recluse in a tower block in London, engages with contemporary culture – as referenced by the album title – but refuses to, literally, change his tune.
The opening track, I’m Gonna Wiggle, sets the charming, chiming tone, while other songs, such as Vanilla Gorilla, Doin’ the Brickwall Crawl, Four White Men in a Black Car, and Record Store Day, jump straight off the conveyor belt of any late 1970s/early 1980s indie label full of songwriters that major labels would never contemplate to approach.
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The album could be accused of sticking to a template that has barely shifted in over 40 years, but that would be missing the point: here is a record that knows its audience and delivers, without compromise, exactly what they want. lawrence-land.uk
