Steve Lawson Unveils Double Solo Album, “Time Stops”

Steve Lawson: Time StopsSteve Lawson has announced a new double solo album that will mark a new shift in his writing. His free-flowing improvisations are often stream-of-consciousness, so between the pandemic and a battle with cancer last year, much of his work lately has been a reaction to that. Time Stops is the first music in some time that hasn’t been “catharsis-first,” he says.

“Throughout the pandemic and then through my lymphoma diagnosis and treatment, music was very explicitly the soundtrack to a set of narratives, emotions, experiences – it produced some really lovely music, some music that is so special to me, but that association with a story means that for those who know the story, it has a whole other layer of meaning,” Lawson explains. ”“Those experiences are here too, particularly the lightness of much of the music reflecting the feeling of currently being in remission, possibly for good, but this wasn’t ‘let’s document with music how I feel about having cancer’.”

Lawson tracked Time Stops in California while he was in the U.S. for the NAMM Show. He recorded it with his Elrick SLC signature 6-string fretless bass and a MOD Audio DuoX multi-effects pedal. He uses effects in real time to create gorgeous soundscapes, but the new album brings more focus to his incredible melodic sense.

“[Time Stops features] some of the best melodic inventiveness I’ve recorded in many, many years,” Lawson states. “Melody is always central to my music world, but during the soundtrack-experiments of the last few years, large scale ambient works became the dominant form. Here, tunes are back in the foreground, big time!”

Time Stops is available now to Lawson’s Bandcamp subscribers and will be available to the public on May 26th as two volumes via Bandcamp. A third volume of material is also out exclusively to his subscribers.

Time Stops Vol. 1 Track List:

  1. I Love You, Homie
  2. Say No More
  3. I Love You Too, Bro
  4. Go Left At Bingo Jesus
  5. Temporary Ritual State

Time Stops Vol. 2 Track List:

  1. Time Stops
  2. The Poetry of Guesswork
  3. Ain’t That Right, Terrance?
  4. Gardens Are Made of Memories and Hope

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