Lawn - Johnny

In 2018 I chanced upon Blood on the Tracks, the debut album from New Orleans duo Lawn and it became an indisputable favourite of mine, ranking sixth on my end of year rundown. It had immediate winning qualities but also staying power. I still listen to it occasionally and it never fails to delight me.

Now, two years down the line, they're back with their second Johnny, and it's another winner. Lawn are both strangely familiar and wonderfully fresh. If you were after contemporary comparisons you'd probably go with Parquet Courts, Nap Eyes and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. Guitar bands built on classic legacies. Lawn compare favourably with any of them.

Lawn have two songwriters. Rui De Magalhaes and Mac Folges. They have distinctly contrasting approaches to songwriter. Folges tends towards Pop territory, The Kinks seem a natural point of origin. De Magalhaes veers towards harsher terrain, perhaps Pavement and the aforementioned Parquet Courts might be useful descriptive reference points.

This variation in terms of approach leads to a quite startling and pleasurable listening experience for anyone who likes the bands I've mentioned above in addition to logical additional antecedents such as early R.E.M. and Television. Johnny as was the case with Blood on the Tracks is a record in a state of constant tension,  motion, and flux.

Whether this record garners them greater attention than Blood on the Tracks managed remains unclear. They're essentially a Bandcamp band. I've seen a couple of site reviews for Johnny, but have yet to see them mentioned in magazines or newspapers.

If they do continue to languish in relative obscurity as seems likely, it's certainly a great pity for the band themselves as the two albums they've produced thus far are treasure troves. I'll certainly keep championing them here and I recommend them to you highly!