Lovers’ Lane – Timothy Morris Lane (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Is this a concept album? If so, it certainly makes you rethink what the term means. If the concept album was once the much-maligned playground of prog-rockers dressed as wizards, singing songs about taking rings to Mordor, then Lover’s Lane, the new one from Timothy Morris Lane, is something much more palatable, not to mention much more accessible.

As the title suggests, this is a sonic journey through the myriad emotions of romance and relationships, and if these songs form the body of a collective conceptual idea, it is because they’re linked by themes of love and longing and lust and loss and life, and everything in between.

‘My Everything’ opens this sonic journey: a shuffling, dance groover about the random, often life-altering encounters that put that potential one in our path, and over an understated but contagious rhythm, our narrator lets his dreams run away with him. ‘Little More Crazy’ is a classic blend of modern R&B, cutting-edge pop, and dexterous dance; the bass funks hard, and beguiling beats drive your feet onward, and the song rises through deftness to all-out euphoria.

‘Look What You Got’ links neo-soul with the genre’s classic sounds; the vibe recalls Marvin Gaye‘s revolutionary What’s Going On, but recut for forward-thinking contemporary audiences. ‘Overwhelmed’ explores that moment when you realise you have fallen deeply and irrevocably; the vocal counterpoint echoes the classic vocal-group sound of the 60s, and ‘Careful of Love’ is a chilled cautionary tale – love hurts!

‘Dance With Me’ is, surprisingly given the title, a sweet piano ballad, shot through with seductive brass and sensuous vocals, and a brilliant boy/girl vocal interplay, and playing us out is ‘Be the Change’, which ends on the most positive of notes, a reminder that something as simple as love can be a powerful force in the world.

Lover’s Lane is a journey through the many highs and lows of love; it is also an album built on seductive sounds, from high-energy funkiness to tender torch songs. Love, they say, conquers all, and if that is true, Timothy Morris Lane has just given us the most timely soundtrack for such a timeless concept.