by Craig Howieson

Lawn come full circle on their new EP with a set of songs that finds them relishing days to come

There is a fatigue which accompanies feelings of anxiety and depression that is hard to explain. It follows you round like a crushing weight: a boulder on your shoulders that you can’t roll off. New Orleans indie popsters, Lawn, do a good job of describing this fatigue on Running My Luck, one of the four sparkling new songs that make up their latest EP Bigger Sprout. ‘I’m always tired of waking up / I’m always tired of feeling stuff / I’m always tired of acting tough / I’m always tired of running my luck.’ 

It could be mistaken for teenage pouting in the wrong hands, but those who know, know. And in pairing these words with a track stuffed with jangling guitars and incessant driving bass, the duo (Rui DeMagalhaes and Mac Folger) seem to show that there is always light to be found on the darkest of days. On the EP’s opening track, Down, they go one step further, stating ‘I’ve got something here worth holding.’ In fact the whole EP acts as a nod to better times to come and the pair fire through the tracks as if they can’t wait to see what the future has in store.

Not unlike Philadelphia’s 2nd Grade, the group’s sound nods to the indie pop stars of yesteryear from Big Star to the more obscure end of Flying Nuns’ roster. There is also a punky punch to Medicine Forever and Night Life that hints at a harder nosed direction than we have heard from the group previously.

The final three tracks of the EP are all taken from the groups first recording, 2016’s Big Sprout EP, and will be available physically for the first time. Instead of feeling like outliers, they nestle nicely next to the new material, and suggest the band have come full circle in understanding who they are, and where they are heading. Bigger Sprout will have listeners as eager to see what the future holds as the band themselves.