Lawson Hull is making a name for himself with his poetic lyrics and atmospheric guitar sounds, and his new EP Hangin’ Out With Cowboys is no exception.
The Newcastle-born singer-songwriter was first thrown into the spotlight when the single ‘Paint’ gained millions of streams, before he released his acclaimed debut EP Dreaming Is Easy.
While many artists may see the global pandemic as a hindrance to their creativity, for Hull it was quite the opposite. Instead, he hunkered down in his bedroom to write and eventually travelled to Sydney in order to record the demos that ultimately became the EP.
Having already described his latest bunch of tracks as “different” and “fresh”, we knew we wanted to hear more about the dreamy record from the artist himself.
In the below track-by-track, Lawson Hull allows us an intimate insight into his mind to unpack Hangin’ Out With Cowboys.
Check out the Hangin’ Out With Cowboys by Lawson Hull:
Girl
‘Girl’ opens the EP with something along the lines of, “It’s not you, it’s me”. The all-time breakup line. It starts out dreamy, and dips before a cheery chorus and taking an energetic turn in the post-chorus.
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I wrote it when I was thinking back on old flings that fizzled or weren’t meant to be. The first line in the song goes, “Girl, you’re a good thing but I don’t dream about you”. It doesn’t matter how amazing someone is or how perfect your parents think they are for you, the spark is there or it isn’t. It’s not cool dragging someone’s emotions around if you know where it’s going to end up. Don’t hang around thinking I’m going to change, because people never change.
Parking Lot
PL is sadly about as grunge as I get. It’s loud and crunchy and I love playing with the band live.
Life is a constant battle between being boring and trying to do cool things. ‘Parking Lot’ sarcastically reflects on the monotony of life, embracing the boring, wanting to do more but always resorting back to what is easy. The verses paint seemingly stitch-up situations. Minding your business in the car park, trying to get some peace and watch a sunset but getting weird vibes from a druggie. I guess the reality is you can make life how you want it. Like most people, I’m quick to judge and quick to let insignificant situations get the better of me. Somehow I let this turn existential in the chorus. Like, what am I doing here again?
This song is kind of like the big brother of ‘College Town’ from my last EP – small-town vibes, not a lot going on. If there was an alternate music video made for this song, it would involve me going about my day but constantly running into annoying-ass people and dumb situations like someone blatantly stealing my car park.
Mexico
Amidst foiled travel plans in the first Australian lockdown in 2020, I wrote ‘Mexico’ because I wanted to be somewhere else.
The story is someone’s daydream – hoping there’s a chance with their crush. In real life, they’re not sure if the feelings go both ways, or if the other person even knows there’s an interest to begin with. The dream is to sweep this someone off of their feet, all the way to Mexico. The second verse imagines the fast and reckless drive to go pick this person up, as if you can’t believe it’s happening and the bridge sends the couple down the runway.
Check out ‘Girl’ by Lawson Hull:
Cowboys
‘Cowboys’ reflects on the life of an artist in the Wild West of the music industry.
It can be lonely or over-crowded, have you full of excitement and adrenaline or have you pulling your own hair out. Either way, for the most part, it’s nothing like you would’ve ever dreamed.
You’re a loner because it’s up to you to write the songs (which is a weird job to everyone) and put them out into the world. No one really knows what it is you do or why you do it.
Cowboys seem to be ok with this; being outsiders. In music, there might be some glamour when you get to the top, but for the most part, you’re just a cowboy playing musical chairs, trying to get some traction, trying to make something land.
This year I’ve learnt that confidence goes a long way and backing yourself is vital. Nobody knows how far they’ll go despite their efforts, but hard work pays off somehow, sometime. You’ve just got to wait for the wind to blow the right way.
Fluke
‘Fluke’ is made of fast love and New York rom-coms. I was picturing big cities when I wrote this. It follows the first weeks of infatuation between a couple who randomly meet in a bottle shop. Sure enough, the main character starts to worry about where things are at and feels like he needs to convince the other person that he’s worth sticking around for. The girl in ‘Girl’ needed this chorus. This song is all about DRIVE and pace. Let’s get lost in this thing as fast as possible and hope for the best.
Baby Let Go
This song is always a reminder of what a pain in the ass I can be. Although the song isn’t super personal, elements of the story sum up how I picture myself sometimes. It’s easy to overlook the energy-draining effect you can have on someone in a relationship. So I guess, like the chorus says, it’s owning up to your bad habits and giving the other half a way out – “You’ve been running around, got no time for yourself”. Out of all the songs on the EP this one stands out as a favourite because of how it reaches out musically in opposite directions, folk one way and bigger, more psychedelic the other.
For more on this topic, check out the Indie Observer.
Check out ‘Mexico’ by Lawson Hull:
