Formed in 2019, Lawne is the result of a meeting of minds between old friends and self confessed music nerds Joe Nicklin and Joe Martin. Their sound draws upon myriad influences with dub, electronics, hip hop, psych, jazz, post-punk and Afrobeat all somehow ingrained within the mix.
It’s something that evolved during at a time of change for both of them, as Joe Nicklin explains:
“The start of this project coincided with me moving onto a canal boat, which was a hugely rewarding time of my life but not without its challenges. You can hear some of my boating vents coming through in the lyrics of Beta Pan and Ame Tova.
Another challenge during this time was trying to figure out a way of still playing and recording drums that wasn’t going to break the bank. I decided to start renting a tiny storage space near Caledonian Road in North London, that I would convert into a makeshift studio and soon learned that corrugated iron sheets aren’t the best walls for a drum booth. My friend cut me some curtains and a few egg boxes later we were able to insulate the thing, sort of.
These limitations meant that we had to keep recordings pretty simple and I feel like this set the tone for the whole record. Whether it was digging out my childhood bass guitar for Joe to play, squeezing every last drop out of Logic presets or mumbling into a SM57 for the first time, we made do with what we had and I’m proud of the charming thing we were able to create. I felt like I was learning on the job at times for this album and I’m grateful for what it has taught me, whilst being excited for what we can do next. As I was moving off the water and out of my lockup, the album masters were also starting to trickle through. A fitting close to that chapter of my life and the making of our first album.”
Joe Martin reflects more on how their unique sound came about:
“It’s interesting thinking back to the sound we were exploring when we first started writing together, and how different much of the record is to that original sound. We didn’t set out a clear musical direction and that meant we were rarely constrained stylistically, we could shift between genres and feels and grooves, take inspiration from the new and the old and it still sat comfortably with what we were trying to do. I think the eight tracks we landed on illustrates that nicely.
The record’s named after the self storage unit we used as a studio for many years, there’s something quite poetic about parting ways with the space within weeks of the album coming out; a final homage to the place it all started.”
Attic is released on November 29th with bespoke and striking artwork from the award winning Animisiewasz and Lawne will be performing the album in full at an exclusive, invitation only London show on December 12th.
Reactions and Radio Play
Mamasong featured on Bandcamp Weekly; “Ame Tova” played by DJ Aja & Claire (Ketch-A-Vibe)
“One of my favourite groups at the moment!” Bill Brewster (Lowlife / NTS)
“One of the most exciting releases of the year!” Deb Grant (BBC 6 Music)
“Nice One!” Robbie Vincent (Jazz FM)
“Brilliant Album. Full support!” Laurent Garnier (PBB / Worldwide FM, France)
“For Late Night China Moses. Think she’ll really like ‘Pool’.” Claire Umney (Jazz FM)
‘Mamasong’ it’s been added to New Dance 2024 playlist on YouTube Music.
“Quality tunes!” DJ Angola (Wonderwheel, USA)
“Lovely .. What a mood digging this LP ..” DJ Soulist (Souleance, France)
“FUNKY flavours to savour…a journey into sound!” Ash Selector (Solar Radio, UK)
“GREAT Album!” Chris Ex (Black Radio, Berlin, Germany)
“Love the different ambiances, moods, complet album creative.” Veronique Prebolin (Radio Krimi, France)
“Very cool.. need to catch live for a dance” DJ Snuff (Universal Magnetic Bboy, London)
“Funky as hell, love it!” Jane Cudworth (Big Chill, Garden Festival, Bestival, Rum Do, Womad, MTV, UK)
“Loving Heather’s Leather, thank you. Allo Dom!!” Ennio Styles (Stylin’ 3RRR-FM / Worldwide FM / Heard and Felt / Spotify playlist, Melbourne, Australia)
“A wonderful blend of seemingly different ingredients that result in a unique sound. All in all, a fine album.” Sven Thomschke (Radio Z 95.8FM, Germany)
“Great tunes, nice vibe!” Jay Paul (WRUV-FM Burlington, VT USA)
“Groovy, freak-out tackle” Jack Duckham (Various, UK)
“Very cool.” Chris Read (Music of Substance, BBE / So Much Soul / Classic Material / Breakin Bread)
“Nice ones” Tjers Coers (DJ/ Armada Music, Netherlands)
“Great sounds and production, love it” Robert Steer/ DJ Mr Lob (Various, Melbourne)
“PSYCHE SOUL” Jean Marc (Radio Television Suisse Romande Couleur3, Switzerland)
“Wah wah 45’s pure class from Dom & co!” Aja Allsop (Aja & Claire Simone’s Ketch A Vibe Show, UK)
“I love Lawne!” Olivier Cavaller (De La Bonne Musique, France)
“Dope!!” DJ Makala (Global Funkers, Spain)
“Fantastic group and album.” Robert Lochmann (Radio X, Germany)
“Enough said.” Lorenzo Aldino (Jockey Club Ibiza, Spain)
“So so good!!!” Markus Milz (Radio Corax 94.9FM, Germany)
“Great album!” Martin Barkhuis (jazzrdeville, Netherlands)
“I really enjoy ’em!” Ivan Mera (Higher Street, Spain)
“Stupendous. What a drop for Christmas. Can’t wait for the vinyl on this. Funky, silky smooth.. so so dope!” DJ Expression (What’s Hot Radio, UK)
“Very tasty indeed.” Lee Bright (Tangential Music, UK)
“Great stuff… loose & juicy!” Chris Greenwood (SOAS Radio, UK)
“Not going to argue with Deb Grant – magic dancefloor Afrobeat arrangements. Full support.” Gerry Hectic (You And The Music, UK)
“Great sound!” Roberta Cutolo (Totally Wired Radio, London)
“Brilliant!” Eric Tchaikovsky (Night Light Radioshow, Austria)
Loved it” Nuno di Rosso (RUM / Rádio Oxigénio, Portugal)
“Very good vibes” MP Marcus (Choice FM, UK)
“Nice one!” DJ Junior (Eavesdrop Radio WKDU 91.7FM, Philadelphia)
“”Love the flow, thank you very much” Andre Rheaume (Various, Canada)
“Awesome tunes. Love it! Favorite tune randomly chosen, all tracks are great!” Vinyl Vibes (Cologne)
“Enjoying all of this and have played the 2 singles, will be playing more” Jason Pulaski (KUCI 88.9FM, California)
“Quite simply an amazing album.” Jim McMaster (TNGCRADIO.COM, UK)
“This is such an outstanding release, every cut is unique with deep grooves.” DJ Phil D (Various, USA)
“Love Lawne sound!! They could make a dance floor killer with the second part of Heather’s Leather! Congrats!! Full support” Enrique Domenech (Freeforms – The Magic Roundabout CKUT 90.3FM, Montreal)
“Great premiere! Full support on my shows since day 1 and forward” Tiago Santos (Radio Oxigenio, Portugal)
“Heather’s Leather sounding as good as ever and I can’t wait to get my ears around this tomorrow – sounds ACE” Simon Harrison (Basic soul show, Nu-World Mix, Samurai FM)
“Nice track” Timos Koklas (Reverb Nation, Greece)
“Love this album! spinning another cut on tonight’s show” Danny Payne (CJLO 1690AM, Montreal)
“Love It” Rino Spadavecchia (HearDis, Stuttgart)
“Brilliant work from all involved.” Steve KIW (Various, Brighton)
“The Lawne album has finally landed, fulfilling all the promise of the singles we’ve already heard. Jazzy, full of atmospheres, effects, echoes and driving rhythms. Lovely.” DJ Drummie Dave (Various, UK)
