Grizzly Jim Lawrie has spent the better part of a decade patiently piecing together his respectable assemblage of talents, working on his craft under a number of guises – most conspicuously as drummer of excellent party outfit Eagle And The Worm.
Lawrie’s solo project, however, is a significant departure from the loose jam band-come-indie pop affections of his work with his band.
Here, Lawrie shares a distinct homogeneity with modern folk luminaries such as Horse Feathers, The Tallest Man On Earth, and Melbourne’s Little John
He is however known to occasionally stray towards more alt-country territory, to meet both the lovers and the fighters of the genre squarely in the melting pot of Lower Manhattan via Northern Tennessee.
Paying My Debts From The Grave marks a fine debut, with Lawrie quietly and confidently realising a deft songwriting touch.
Accompanied here by a band whose lineage include Buckley Ward and Major Tom & the Atoms, they precisely befit this collection of songs, lilting and wailing in earnest measure.
Lawrie’s keen eye for subtlety, along with engineers Jimmy Allen (Buckley Ward) and Ryan Nelson’s (SubAudible Hum) uncomplicating rubric, expertly tease out the endearing honesty in these songs.
Lawrie’s skillful yet frequently plaintive lyricism sits harmoniously with the decisive piano and acoustic guitar twosome which bed the bulk of the tracks here, piecing them together with discipline to build slow burning soulful melodies that propel these songs towards repeat listening.
New single, ‘What Did We Do?’ ends the record on a decidedly sombre intercession. The song waxes and wanes some, before building sharply and crashing down around Lawrie’s temperate vocal refrain ‘what did we do to deserve this?,’ offering a fitting dose of finality for an exciting debut.
