It's been a minute since I did a premiere here... but we're in special occasion territory, as the blog is nearing the big 400,000 all-time page views! My premiere of a Pêtr Aleksänder track almost five years ago remains the most viewed on the site (just) and if you liked that one, you're going to love the latest form Joseph Lawrenson.
A founding member of the Leeds band Dancing Years, Joseph honed his craft on the road and is now an in demand composer for film & TV. Releasing today, his debut album Songs for Film is a patchwork collection of original works, re-imaginings and reworks, and fresh arrangements of classical staples (think Chopin, Bach.)
Taken from the record, Zero Zero Four Zero is one of the re-imagined tracks, taking the originally instrumental 0040 from Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds and adding a vocal performance by fellow Leeds artist Jasmine Kennedy, to create a cinematic pop song with a twist. On first listen to one of Joseph's previous singles I was struck with a similarity to AJIMAL in his own vocal performance, so if you're into him, or Pêtr, you're in the right place with this one. It's no secret I love me some strings on a track so this is a bit of a dreamy one for me. Check it out on Spotify here or below!
On the track, Joseph shares: "Lyrically it explores the idea of someone cheating on their partner, from the temptation to the resulting heartbreak and the devastation of the ultimate betrayal. I took inspiration from a passage in William Faulkner's 'Light In August': 'You will tell me that you have just learned love; I will tell you that you have just learned hope.' I was fascinated by this concept, that hope can be mistaken for love. And this perfectly expresses the feeling of the betrayed person in my song: 'that's not love you feel, it's only hope.' I think we've all mistaken hope for love at some point in our lives."
The record Songs for Film is out now - check it out here.
