Artist Information
Paris-born and Texas-based, Theo Lawrence channels each of his homes with timeless style and soul on À La Mode, his upcoming debut album for Warner/Reprise. While growing up in France - at odds with anything surrounding him at the time - Lawrence fell in love with the songs of classic American artists like Charlie Rich, Burt Bacharach, Carole King, Dan Penn and Lee Hazlewood. The unique blend of these rich influences - and his upbringing an ocean away - result in a truly singular sound, reverberating with “a sincerity you rarely hear today,” as it’s been described by Western AF. On À La Mode, the resultsfind Lawrence ushering in a new era of French Riviera flourish at the American motorlodge pool.
An effortless combination of Brill Building craftsmanship, Yé-yé spirit and Southern soul, Lawrence’s À La Mode sharpens this vision into a collection of songs about love in all its forms: found, lost, and lingering. “I have a hard time being satisfied by any one style,” he says. “I wanted to reflect everything I listen to,” citing additional inspiration from Bert Berns’ Bang Records, The Drifters’ “Under The Boardwalk” and Peggy Lee’s groundbreaking Latin ala Lee!
Beginning his career with a pair of likeminded collaborators - Thibault Ripault and Bastien Cabezon - Lawrence found early success releasing singles from Bordeaux, France, but felt a growing pull towards the land of Doug Sahm, Ray Price, Jim Reeves and Willie Nelson. “We could play one show a month in France,” recalls Lawrence. “In America, we could play every day.” Settling in Austin - and embracing that original mission statement - Lawrence will spend the next six months touring coast-to-coast with Alison Krauss & Union Station, on over 75 tour dates across the country.
Traveling to Chicago for the À La Mode sessions and teaming with Alex Hall of Reliable Recorders (JD McPherson, Nick Lowe), the tracking process for the album kept a focus on feel and fluidity over chasing perfection or polish. “There were zero rehearsals with the band,” remembers Lawrence. “They didn’t hear any of the songs. I wanted a sound that wasn’t too squashed or corrected. I don’t remember having to over-explain anything. I’d just play the chords and it was understood.”
The success of that philosophy is a credit to Lawrence as bandleader and songwriter, plus the group of standout musicians playing behind him: Ripault on guitar, Hall on drums, bass player Billy Horton (Charley Crockett, Nick Waterhouse, Jimmie Vaughan) and Joe Roddy (from Austin’s psych-Saharan-cumbia trio The Point) on piano. Reliable’s far flung instruments also inspired some of the choices when it came to how the songs were arranged. Lawrence offers: “We were using the instruments laying around, and we didn’t get lost in 50 different guitars. We used the vibraphone a bunch, piano, organ for that tone.”
Among the results are the luxurious, string and horn-laced “Lonely Too Long,” the lo-fi romantic whirl of “You’ve Got What It Takes” - where a springtime chance encounter plays out entirely in unspoken thoughts - and the string-quartet-swaddled “If Not For Music,” a tribute to song as a language for what can’t be said outright. Other highlights include the Elvis-flecked Hawaiian “Blue Holiday,” a wistful tale of leaving home, as well as the foreboding spaghetti Western undertow of “I Want To Know What’s Going On” and the cascading “I’ve Got A Mind For Loving You,” where love looks past all imperfections. Together the eleven songs on À La Mode create a world of intimate moments, utterly vibrant and fully alive - like an old Hollywood film - where drinks are stirred not shaken, and the passing of time is a pleasure within itself.
