ABOUT

The Hours and the Times is the debut solo album from Lawrence Kim.

It’s the latest leg of a remarkable musical journey that has taken him to Glasgow, Scotland, where he was a member of seminal indie popsters BMX Bandits (“If I could be in any other band, it would be BMX Bandits” – Kurt Cobain), culminating in the Creation Records album Theme Park, produced by legendary scenester/psychopath Kim Fowley.

In New York, he fronted power poppers The Amber Smith against the backdrop of the indie rock revival of the 2000s and 2010s. At the end of that decade and into the next, he masterminded the critically-acclaimed synthpop act Scam Avenue while also finding time to be part of wunderkind chart threat (and Charli XCX collaborator) Ryn Weaver’s touring band.

“I guess it’s taken me a little while to release an album under my own name,” says Lawrence. “I like being in bands. It’s like being in a gang. Us versus the world.”

So why now? “I had written some songs, and I decided to try something new and record as much of them as I could on my own.” Which perhaps is fitting, given the theme of the album.

“It’s an album about being alone—which isn’t necessarily the same thing as being lonely,” he says. “I didn’t set out to make an album around that, but that’s what I ended up with. You write what you know, as they say.”

While Lawrence wrote, produced, arranged, played, and sang most of the album, he wasn’t flying completely solo. “I decided to rope in as many pals as I could, to lend some variety to the proceedings. And thank God I did, because they give the songs a depth they wouldn’t have had otherwise.” The various guests include enigmatic chanteuse Emma Tricca (Bella Union), drummer extraordinaire Kid Millions (Oneida, Man Forever, Laurie Anderson, Spiritualized), psychedelic bluegrass belter 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 Dana Lyn (Slim Bone Head Volt with Vincent D’Onofrio).

What does the title of the LP mean? “Mainly, I just like the way those words sound together!

“But also, when you spend a lot of time by yourself, you become very aware of the passage of time. You’re able to be more present and notice little details that others might miss. And you’re more aware of your reactions to things. So the title could refer to a life seen as the sum of all those observations and feelings. A life measured in hours and times.

“The title also has to do with the nature of memory. When we remember something or someone, we’re actually remembering a bunch of discrete little moments, which then represent that experience or person as a whole to us. More and more, I’ve been thinking of the people I used to know and the things I used to do and the places I used to go. So many of them are gone now. It’s very sad but also very beautiful. Transience leads to transcendence.”

The album opens with the jangly “New Jetsetter.” “That was the first song I had written in a long time. I was going through a dry spell when one day I was at a friend’s house and I picked up this acoustic guitar that was lying around and this song just sort of appeared. The rest of the songs came pretty quickly after that.”

LP highlights include “Madeleine” (“one of my favorites of the songs I’ve written”), “Rodeo” (“I hadn’t played electric guitar in a while so that’s me releasing some pent-up rock energy”), “Sawyer” (“love Peter’s flute solo at the end”), “Diver” (“just Emma and I, singing and playing acoustic guitars”), and epic album closer “Go Lay Yourself Down Again” (“it basically wrote itself”).

What’s next? “I’m getting ready to play some shows to promote the album. It’s been a while since I’ve played live so I’m looking forward to it. And I have some ideas for the next album. I may even record it … with a band.”