Theo Lawrence & The Hearts - Homemade Lemonade (Deluxe Version) (2018) [Hi-Res]

It’s the 21st century, somewhere in the banlieues of Paris. A child tries his hand at the piano, then the guitar. Self-taught and motivated, with music loving parents that listen to all the records that count, without ever forcing anything upon him. At age eight, he is quite literally gripped by the White Stripes’ “Elephant”, revealing the secret passages to haunted guitars and liberating electricity, south of all possibility… Soon, his trademark was to become the lyrical preaching of his love for records and the few chords that have the power to shake existences. The sacred anecdotic, as the all-but-forgotten American songwriter put it. To serve music and make the music that people need to hear - his mission.

Self disciplinary, he writes as we breathe. He awaits no muse, preferring to invoke, provoke and shake them. Wurlitzer or guitar, it doesn’t matter – he searches, improves, shapes. He’s not in it for the glory, the glitter or convenience, but to extend the art’s founding actions, to honor the past so as to better sketch the future. What Theo loves is this precise opportunity that music offers: the possibility to be furiously, sensually and irredeemably alive, there, in the moment.

Two 7” records and an EP came to life completely independently. Around the same time came their first serious stage appearances (including Montréal’s jazz festival, in the land of Theo’s ancestors). 2015. Theo Lawrence & The Hearts are all present, together: Theo Lawrence on vocals, Thibault Lecocq on drums, Nevil Bernard on keys, Louis Marin Renaud on the guitar and Olivier Viscat on the bass, all in perfect harmony. They have all the songs they need to make an album. They sign to BMG, then head straight to Angers, to the legendary Black Box studios to lay down ten songs with Peter Deimel behind the mixing desk. Two weeks away from the outside world, two analogical, visceral weeks where emotions override pragmatism and careful planning is pushed aside in favor of adventure. Where a shared smile is the indicator that a song is as it should be. A foundation, a promise to the future. Diversity and timelessness are primordial to the band.

It’s a captivating first record. Although previously unknown, the songs’ presence is instantaneous, as if they’d always been there. It may be soul, or maybe rock, but above all it’s youth, ripping up certainty and building it’s own alter to the glory of eternal rhythm. It deviates more than it shines. Despite their shared savoir-faire, their undisputable mastery of their instruments and a conscious control freak attitude, emotion always overcomes in this craftwork of the heart. Planets aligned and eras intertwined for the best. The listener rapidly loses interest in knowing if Theo Lawrence & The Hearts come from here or there as the songs effortlessly take hold, fearlessly teasing the horizon. And there a voice, with an uncanny accent – impressively impossible to identify as French to say the least – singing of existence with tangible empathy and versatility. The album is called “Homemade Lemonade”. Fourteen-year-old Theo promised himself that this would be the name of his first album one day… Eight years have passed and now Theo is upholding the promise he made to his previous self. And he’s done well to. It’s a pact that has stood the test of time. When he speaks of Don Cavalli, Alabama Shakes, the Ramones and Aretha Franklin, of 60’s Thai and Cambodian mu-sic, of Willie Nelson, of Joe Tex, Ray Charles, Neil Young and gospel, of Delta or Tarantino, all with that same fire burn-ing in his eyes, it is quickly apparent that he defends no fixed position. Only his passion.

The record first leaves listeners impressed by its audacity and talent, before leaving them with a smile on their face. Theo Lawrence & The Hearts are just getting started.

Produced by Peter Deimel, Theo Lawrence & The Hearts