Music Review New single from veteran singer-songwriter

When was the last time you heard music from Lawrence Imossi?

At a guess, I’d say that it was during the pandemic when the local music fraternity doubled down to provide entertainment on media platforms to lighten up Friday evenings. By then, Lawrence had already given many years to singing and songwriting in bands like Glow and later Milbajac. He had, and still has, a bit of a reputation to live up to as a local legend.

He has mostly been inspired by superstars like Elton John and Billy Joel and is a gifted instrumentalist who is blessed with a fine voice and a deft touch on piano, which he plays to back himself and for songwriting.

Nowadays, a busy father of three grown-up children, he manages to find time for family life, padel tennis and making music.

He is currently recording and producing his songs at home with professional-quality computer programmes which would have cost a packet in the old days.

The results, I can tell you, are quite spectacular.

Lawrence has just dropped an epic new single onto the popular media platforms. Living in the Dark is a powerful comeback song. He has captured himself in a great performance.

A melodic rock ballad which could sit comfortably in any AOR (adult oriented rock) chart.

Hopefully it will be followed up by more singles as he records them. We would expect nothing less from a legend.

The Chronicle caught up with him to find out more.

“In the days of Covid, I recorded covers and it was fun to be part of the Friday Nights community,” Lawrence said.

“I remember recording the output of my speakers back then, and that’s when I decided I needed to figure out how to record properly. Thankfully nowadays, we have the technology available to us to allow us to achieve much better quality recordings.”

“When I have time at home, I’m always tinkering on the piano trying to come up with chords and melodies which sometimes become songs. I also play a bit of guitar and often noodle in the same manner searching for inspiration. I have a number of songs which I want to record properly to follow this single, and put more of my music out there.”

“However, it takes time and I’m still learning so much about record production.”

“Coming back to songwriting, sometimes a rough song can develop in ten minutes and other times I record rough ideas on my phone and work on them later. I usually come up with a chord structure first, followed by a melody, and the lyrics always come last.”

“Some words are easier to sing than others, so I tend to sing phonetically which is nearly always gibberish. Sometimes a word will stick, and I’ll base the lyrics around that for the theme of the song.”

“I grew up with a piano in my room which I shared with two older brothers. One studied music and played the piano, so he taught me the basics, and once I could play a couple of songs, I just enjoyed singing along.”

“My other brother was more into listening to good music, and so I was often listening to the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Prince, Pink Floyd, U2, etc. Elton John and Billy Joel were also an obvious inspiration.”

Living in the Dark is quite the song and I find myself in awe of the vibe that Lawrence has injected into the polished performance, so I had to ask where it came from.

“At first, I wanted this song to be just a piano and voice song, but then I started to add more instruments, and a beat, and saw what worked and tweaked it again until I almost couldn’t stop.

“It’s addictive and that is a danger. You can over-produce a song.”

“Anyway, once I was happy with my recording, I sent it to a distribution company called Tunecore who publish and place songs on many digital platforms internationally. I subscribe to it annually for 25 dollars, and they take away all my distribution and publishing headaches.”

Lawrence ideally wants to follow up on this new single in a couple of months and has some more songs recorded, but they take a long time to produce to the standard that he’s happy with.
All musicians have a sound in their head which they chase - much like poets chasing the elusive muse - that is what drives them.

Since his time in Glow and Milbajac, he has always been interested in putting down his songs for posterity and he‘s had time to think about performing in public again.

“I can’t see myself ever going back to playing in a band, but I would like to perform these new songs in public one day. At the moment, I am busy trying to record them and establish an artistic presence online.”

“I am enjoying this process in my own time and in my own space and it would be a shame not to put my songs out there, after all, you never know what opportunities might arise from that.”

“Thankfully I’ve realised that I am not recording just for producers, I am aiming at ordinary folk who like a tune and do not apply any critical thinking to spoil their enjoyment. They are hearing a vibe and an energy and they go with that.”

“Hopefully I will get quicker at producing my songs, but there’s no rush, I have no set targets. The whole point is to enjoy the process and get my music out there.”

“Once I have released a few more songs and people know them, and hopefully enjoy listening to them, then that’s the time to maybe think about playing them live.”

“There’s little point in playing a bunch of totally unknown songs to an audience who won’t be able to relate to them.”

And, on that sensible yet hopeful note, is where we leave our chat with one of the nicest talented musicians you might wish to meet.

Hearing Lawrence Imossi’s new single will leave you in no doubt that, if he keeps faithful to the direction that he’s chosen, in the next twelve months you could find yourself following a great local singer-songwriter on your favourite music platform.

Seek him now on Spotify or other digital platforms and I’m betting that you will be impressed.