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Slacker of the Year

by Jim Lawrie

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    Melbourne’s finest purveyor of heartbroken folk-rock returns with the shimmering title track from his new album Slacker of the Year, a gorgeous finger-picked and reverb-soaked ballad which entertains the idea that a bedroom-bound slacker could somehow be celebrated as hero to the masses. Pre-order available now.
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1.
you’re like a mirror ball  the light shifts and it’s almost blinding  took a spin on the killing floor  lost my feet but it’s all coming back again  and then it all ends  and it feels just like it happened in a dream  nothing’s ever as it seems  love within and life without  outlines living everywhere  sun up with your warm breath waiting  so real, still here  reach out but it’s always fading  away into the day  and it feels just like it happened in a dream  nothing’s ever as it seems  love within and life without  if it’s real tear the stitches from the seems  just to find out what it means to us  to hold within a love we though would walk with us forever more
2.
i’m not so bold that i could think that there’s a place you’d rather be  that i could think that all these words would somehow reach  from my house to yours  i’m not so old that i won’t let the laws of gravity take hold  no fear that i would rather kill than to indulge  but if we let these arms reach  would you lie awake like me?  a feeling i can’t shake knowing what’s at stake  does it just feel right this time? does your city sleep like mine?  im not so tired that i’d go calling out your name into the dark  that I can’t tell that this is how a fire starts  but if we let these flames breathe  would you lie awake like me?  a feeling i can’t shake knowing what’s at stake  does it just feel right this time? does your city sleep like mine? 
3.
there were days you knew me you didn’t think of me this way  and i looked right through you never wished for that to change  now we hear each other like the crashing of a wave  as we echo gently through the bloodshot summer haze  killing time til i see you  never thought that i’d hold you in this way  but i’d wait to be young this summer to have days that never end  float around each other you could bring me back again   to my own undoing just like we’re swimming in the rain   and we could drown together that’s comfort just the same  killing time til i see you  never thought that i’d hold you in this way  but i’d wait for you  you’re on my mind  to be young this summer  crash around me like a wave  we could drown forever  in the bloodshot summer haze 
4.
no old song could hold its own knowing you’re truly gone but i’ll sing along  and all their words don’t mean a thing mumma says i’m growing thin time to move on  hindsight is such a bitter friend but i felt the change coming on the wind  and if it fills your sails too may it take you far as you want it to  but if i called your name would you hear mine too ringing true as one  and the ties that bind they just need some time to fall away and come undone  all these streets just lead my mind back to better times and telltale signs  i guess we knew this song would come lying deep within time to begin to move on  but if i sang your name would you hear mine too ringing true as one  and the ties that bind they just need some time to fall away and come undone 
5.
all this time this old compass seems to only lie  stumble blind into salvation with its arms out wide  i bit the hands that left me asking why with my limbs all tied  but i’m still here wanting  to find somewhere we could run to that we could get lost on earth  find someone worth believing that i could get lost in her  filled with doubt this busted heart still has a bit of spark  throw me out into the wreckage of another night  with all the others dressed to fuck or fight   but i’ll find a light that could lead me onward to  to find somewhere we could run to that we could get lost on earth  find someone worth believing that I could get lost in her  for what it’s worth i’ve run to the reaches of logic and reason   forgot what they taught of the promise of love   took chances on leaving a dream not worth dreaming if i cant dream of her   but we, we could get lost on earth 
6.
New Frontier 04:22
found your moment of clarity never quite found the words for me  shot your flare into the sky and watched it burn out in the night  laying out what your mother gave take the mistakes that your father made  whatever fits you for just one day  just for a moment can we pretend everything’s like when we first met  standing on the edge of a new frontier  when you could break me with your love but not with fear  headlights bending through the window shades  i know you weren’t sleeping anyway  can feel you crawling with restlessness  i remember a better time when we didn’t count all the cracks we’d find  and our hearts knew best  love is a fugitive with the world in tow  you could chase it down or let it go  it’s a wonder anyone could get so near 
7.
copy paste another hectic day i woke up late and i’m still so tired  all of my responsibilities turn into casualties ‘til i get high  i could sleep for days don’t leave your flowers where i lay  i’m not coming down from here i could be the slacker of the year  i’m not coming down from here  i had dreams of going out today find a brand new place to leave my mark on   into a world of possibility a sad celebrity i could go far   i could earn their praise taking prizes from the mad parade  i can hear the people cheer calling me the slacker of the year  i’m not coming down from here i‘m not coming down  in a world of such atrocity and animosity there stands a hero   up against the wrongs that he can see in everything   with the world below pointing to the sky   i hear the children as i fly so high i can hear them loud and clear  calling for the slacker of the year  i’m not coming down from here 
8.
like a child awake in bed count the seconds i hold my breath  i could wait right here forever like a letter never sent  in the silence that you won’t break the comfort you won’t shake  would you raise your eyes to meet me and show me that you’re ok  but it goes on i still miss you now you’re home traded faith for the unknown  like a lamb upon the stone make me bleed or let me go  i can find my own way to be gone  don’t just stand there by the gate wiping tears as i drive away  there’s no distance that i could get to that i wont see that face  now i’m gone i still miss you now you’re home traded faith for the unknown  like a lamb upon the stone make me bleed or let me go  i can find my own way to be gone  forever gone  
9.
feels like we’re running different scores  you’re always hungry and i’m never wanting more  but i got food for thought that’s what laughter’s for  you know i’d always be your clown if you’d just let me hang around   to smile through the pain but all you ever do is dress for rain   all that you do is dress for rain  and we’ll get sent to different shores   you’ll take your chance to correspond another war   but i got news for you you don’t have to shoot   my flag is failing in the wind nobody has to lose just so you can win   time and again why’d you always have to dress for rain?  all that you do is dress for rain  and all this talk of different worlds   astronomy ain’t easy for a complicated girl   but i could be your moon circle right round you   so take a trip up here someday the sun will shine in exactly the same way   and I’ll shine the same and you wont ever have to dress for rain   but all that you do is dress for rain 
10.
Sleep On 04:55
i shift to find the world you sleep in  and i pray the light won’t pull you from your dreaming   but even as i hold you now in my arms  i can feel us drift apart  it’s quiet enough for me to hear you breathing  drowning out the movement on the street  and every time i feel you twitch next to me  i can feel you waking from your sleep  for so long we hid together from the things to come  for so long pressed to each other like the only ones  so go on holding on forever to what’s gone  let love sleep on  i could hold on to a moment for a lifetime  keeping you from opening your eyes  but even as your body falls into mine  i can feel it waking to a lie  for so long we hid together from the things to come  for so long pressed to each other like the only ones  so go on holding on forever to what’s gone  let love sleep on   

about

Melbourne’s finest purveyor of heartbroken folk-rock returns with the shimmering new album Slacker of the Year. Jim Lawrie’s sound is longing and effortless, music to feel to.

credits

released June 9, 2017

Written and produced by Jim Lawrie. Recorded, produced and mixed by Callum John Barter at Newmarket Studios. Additional engineering and production by Robert Muinos. Mastered by Steve Smart at Studios 301, Sydney.

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Jim Lawrie Melbourne, Australia

Jim Lawrie is a songwriting gem – an artist transitioning from his previous incarnation as a folk singer-songwriter into a purveyor of soaring alt-country rock 'n' roll. On record and live, his performances are gorgeous and Jim's trademark vocal purity is a highlight; melodic, harmonious, warm and human. ... more

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