Lawson // Chapman Square

Buy @ Amazon.co.uk (Standard) | Buy @ Amazon.co.uk (Deluxe)
Download @ Amazon.co.uk
Download @ iTunes (Standard) | Download @ iTunes (Deluxe)
Buy @ Official Store

2012 has been a good year so far for the boys of Lawson and now they’ve released their debut album, Chapman Square.

Opening with current single, Standing In The Dark (which we reviewed here), it moves onto Gone which has a Coldplay-esque Oh-oh-oh-ho section and is about heartbreak, yet, it doesn’t have that usual, feel sorry air around it. From heartache to love as it jumps to single two in the form of Taking Over Me (reviewed here). Everywhere You Go is the first slow-ish track on the album, showing that they can do other speeds and styles.

Waterfall is about yet another relationship breaking up (are they really that unlucky in love?) but has a feeling of deja-vu from an earlier track but still a great vocal showcase. And now we reach the song that never seemed to leave in the form of When She Was Mine (reviewed here). The pace is raised as the album heads into Make It Happen which is good until the end where it seems that they might have run out of ideas as there are a few more oh than we like to hear (although in it’s defence, it probably works great live for getting the crowd involved). Diving into pop territory with Learn To Love Again, we treated to a positive song about love.

It seems our hopes are dashed as we head back into a song about…losing love and it comes in the form of Stolen. But it’s a lovely heart-felt number from the band. You’ll Never Know does exactly what it says; that an ex won’t know what they’re missing.  You Didn’t Tell Me starts with a very simple opening on keys and is on the same song sheet as Standing In The Dark as it deals with seeing the one you loved with someone else. Finally the album closes with The Girl I Knew, a stripped back, acoustic affair which rounds the album off beautifully.

Well, that is if you have the standard release of the album. The deluxe album features an additional 6 tracks  (Anybody Out There, Who You Gonna Call, Red Sky, Touch and acoustic versions of the singles Taking Over Me and When She Was Mine).

As a debut, it’s not a bad offering. With a couple of deja vu tracks on the standard album, you can’t help thinking that if the additional tracks from the deluxe album had been added before The Girl I Knew that it could possibly have been a great little album. But looking at the positives, the boys have either written or co-written the tracks on the album and they play their own instruments. Not much else you can ask for them really. They’ve now set a baseline for them to work from. Will be interesting to see where they go from here.

Rating: 4/5