The songs on ‘Lesson‘ – the debut album from Bristol based pianist, vocalist and composer A.L. Lacey – sound not too dissimilar to those found on records from the likes of Rozi Plain, You Tell Me and Dilettante; really engaging standalone pieces packed with interesting ideas. Lacey has prior chops, collaborating with a laundry list of artists, including COWER (featuring members of The Ghost of a Thousand, Petbrick and USA Nails) and it’s from past musical adventures that she’s gained the confidence to record pieces for her own solo-project, finessing all the musical ideas she’d created during the pandemic.
“Although playing for (and collaborating with) other musicians brought a lot of joy and talented friends into my life, there was a frustrating sense of unfinished business. In that, my piano parts and ideas were being restricted to someone else’s’ vision – a vision which was often ‘less is more’ – a tasteful afterthought.” Lacey has said of deciding to work on her own material.
“A huge part of this project therefore became the need to challenge myself and to see what I could achieve or lessons I could learn, if I did things my own way – a bit of a journey towards autonomy – a predominant theme in most of my songs, along with finding purpose from confusion, and strength in your weaknesses.”
With influences ranging from My Bloody Valentine to Scott Walker, Lacey took to Bristol’s J&J Studios to piece together the nine songs found on her debut, ‘Lesson‘ ultimately produced and recorded with Jim Barr (Portishead) over the course of two years. The results are gripping, with tracks like ‘Old‘ and ‘Memo‘ building layer upon layer for maximum enticement.
With this being a release from the London based charitable label HUMAN WORTH, 10% of all proceeds will be donated to charity Off the Record – a mental health social movement by / for young people aged between 11 and 25 living in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. Available now via digital download and on ‘Pitch Black‘ vinyl, listen below and grab a purchase here!
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