The “Madeleine” of Lawrence Kim’s latest single is a composite of several people he knows—with a little of himself thrown in for good measure. “It’s about a person who spends a lot of time by herself because she’s tired of being burned by other people,” he says. “She lives in a fantasy world of books and music. The real world is too much for her.”
The third track on Kim’s upcoming solo album, The Hours And The Times, “Madeleine” was written relatively quickly after he’d had his fill of the synths and drum machines that dominated the electro-pop sound of his former group, Brooklyn’s Scam Avenue.
“I wanted to get back to the guitar and just write, play and record something without a lot of equipment and cables and worrying about MIDI channels or whatever,” he says. “Not that I’ve gone off synths and drum machines. I’m just about a different kind of vibe these days.”
Kim landed his first gig of note when he fell in with BMX Bandits as one of a seemingly endless parade of backup musicians for the ever-morphing Scottish cult favorites. Four years after contributing to their 1996 LP, Theme Park, he was back in New York fronting his own hooky, idiosyncratic guitar group, the Amber Smith. Scam Avenue came along in the 2010s and hung in there until 2022. Somewhere along the way, Kim was also part of alt-pop princess Ryn Weaver’s touring band.
Much of the material on the self-released The Hours And The Times was a byproduct of pandemic isolation. Kim has always been partial to collaboration and camaraderie, so when it came time to record, he rounded up an impressive supporting cast. Guests include Italian-born chanteuse Emma Tricca, drummer Kid Millions (Oneida, People Of The North), Rachel Cox (Oakley Hall), singer/songwriter/filmmaker Alexandra Helgerson, sax ace Stephen Chen (Ghost Funk Orchestra, San Fermin), multi-instrumentalist Peter Hess (Philip Glass Ensemble) and others.
The video for “Madeline” was made by photographer, director and producer Meredith Truax, who also did the album’s cover photography. “She followed me around various spots in New York City: my neighborhood, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Bridge, etc.,” says Kim. “Meredith was using a vintage Super 8 camera, and it kept stalling because of the cold. But she turned lemons into lemonade and got some nice—unintentional—effects. The next weekend, there was that massive snowstorm, and she captured some nice footage of the snow, which you can see in the video.”
We’re proud to premiere Lawrence Kim’s “Madeleine.” The Hours And The Times is due May 15.
—Hobart Rowland
