post by @nataliagresty

Seen at Scala, London on November 19th

3 stars – dissonant, dreamy and genre-boundary-pushing set

The 34-year old London-based indie rock/ folk singer/ songwriter Liz Lawrence returns to the road with her fourth studio album, Peanuts. As experimental and genre-subversive as ever and one label isn’t sufficient to describe anymore; the bass is amped up, the rock riffs are catchy, there are elements of funk, pop, sometimes even psychedelia. And of course, her heartfelt voice could often in itself fills up the room.

Liz plays a generously long set, she’s maybe slightly less generous with her words between the songs. As she opens with the percussive-heavy On Loss and Overcoming Despair, she immediately establishes a rather unsettling stage persona. During the first half of the show, she’s wearing her signature silver coif over a simple suit and the mood as well as her robotic dances seem equally uneasy. As she meanders through her ballads, some brilliant crowd-pleasers such as California Screaming or Big Machine, the audience does gradually ease in. In her subtly ironic None of My Friends […are okay], she pays homage to memes about late-stage capitalism which serve as a strong friendship bond and talks fondly of cancelling plans, reminiscent of Courtney Barnett’s Nobody Cares if You Don’t Go to the Party. In her new single Yeti, she proclaims: Heaven’s overrated // I’ll be reincarnated // As a lesbians whippet // Curled on the sofa.

She is as optimistic as melancholic, but we’re never on the verge of tears even during the most serene ballads: the bassline is mostly loud enough to overpower her voice. The other three band members play flawless rock’ n’ roll but the two sounds don’t always perfectly collide. Nevertheless, this only suits the offbeat tempo changes and experimental synths of the new album and Liz effortlessly remains a slight mystery impossible to fit into an indie-pop box.

UK tour: Nov 6th – Nov 19th 2024

Website: https://www.100-percent.co.uk/collections/liz-lawrence 

Label: Chrysalis Records

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizlawrencemusic/