Liz Lawrence - The Avalanche

If Liz Lawrence’s last record, 2019’s ‘Pity Party’ saw the singer-songwriter deemed still a patchy work-in-progress, then follow-up ‘The Avalanche’ at least shows she’s built on it (quite literally: the record was self-produced in a studio she constructed with her carpenter father). On one hand, Liz’s vocal is possessed of a sense of gravitas, its deep, occasionally breathy tones evoking something soothing about the whole endeavour, especially on ‘Violent Speed’, or the closing title track. On the flip side, however, the squishy synths, and sporadic, disjointed spoken-word vocal of ‘Babies’ (on the face of it, at least, an attempt at satirising days spent in lockdown) does quite the opposite - and not in an altogether pleasing way. It’s just confusing. In short, second solo time around it’s still a mixed bag from Liz.