Written by: Alex Green
The elusive Lee Mavers of the La’s banged out a surprise set the other day at Groovefarm Analog Recording Co. and his performance looks like it’s going to be officially released.
Mavers hasn’t put out any new music since his band’s self-titled 1990 classic and though there have been various reports over the last three decades that he’s been working on new material, nothing yet has been released.
If the reports are true, and Mavers’ set will be released, it would make perfect sense because the live-to-vinyl event is right down his alley. The singer/songwriter’s struggle with recording was that it didn’t capture the dynamic of the songs in the real world and the kinetic quality of the music had its edges softened through modern production. Mavers publicly discounted The La’s debut almost as soon as it came out, referring to it as dull and not containing the real raw energy of the band. Pointedly, he told the NME in 1991 that he hated the album, describing it as “a snake with a broken back.”
As for the set itself, John Robb of Louder Than War reported that Mavers “…still sounded as brilliant as ever.”
A photo on the Groovefarm Facebook page featured Mavers wearing a hoodie and sneakers and holding what looks to be a take-out cup of coffee.
The caption to the photo was: “Team Mavers absolutely smashed it last night at our first live to vinyl event @vanishingpointrecords. Thanks to all that came along it really was a very special evening.”
