UK songwriter Liz Lawrence is not far past the release of her debut album Pity Party, which came out in October, but she’s back with a new track called “California Screaming”. Unsurprisingly, it was inspired by watching FOX News, as she explains:
“I was sitting in a Mexican restaurant in Pomona, California, watching Fox News on the TV screens, one on every wall. The onslaught of disaster news, about killer bees and rapidly escalating deaths from vaping, kicked off a 10-day anxiety attack that didn’t subside until I landed back in London. I remember thinking that if I stayed in that world of breaking news, I would never be able to leave the house.”
In “California Screaming” Lawrence’s voice flutters atop churning drums and jagged guitars, like her mind whirring with worry about all the problems with the world. Rather than take the track down a dark path, the thoughts get turned inside out, and “California Screaming” reaches a sort of joyous finale that evokes a solitary playfulness – something we could all use right now.
