Vespers, the new record by Liz Lawrence, is an album about tragedy. It is the record of a life and death, an act of devotion and reflection. Liz wrote the songs in the ashes of disaster: “It is dedicated to my beautiful sister Jessie and her too-short life.” Jessie was 35 when she died.
In the summer of 2024, Liz was at a festival when she received a call telling her that her sister Jessie had suffered a serious accident in Ireland. She was in intensive care and Liz and her brother should fly out immediately. “What followed was the most profoundly altering period of my life,” Liz explains. “I learned about the beauty of the dying, the resilience of the living and the infinite fountain of love that sustains us
Vespers is due for release on June 5 via Chrysalis Records. It is the fifth album by Liz, following Peanuts, The Avalanche, Pity Party and Bedroom Hero.
Vespers was written over a period of three weeks, its songs coming in a short burst, all at once, six months after Jessie died. Its music exists at the borders of the before and the after. “If you want to understand the change in me, from the person who made Peanuts to the person who wrote Vespers, then this is it. Grief changes you. I don’t recognise the person I was before.”
Liz releases the first four songs from the record, to be listened to together as an entry point to the forthcoming album. They are ‘Mt. Nephin’, ‘Where Did You Go’, ‘Black Ulysses’ and ‘Sister’.
Vespers:
- Mt. Nephin
- Where Did You Go
- Black Ulysses
- Sister
- Three Legged Dog
- Yves Blue
- A Good One
- Heaven Didn’t Need Another Angel
- May Queen
- Exploded Into Flowers
- Birthday Party
- Thank God For You
- (coda)
