On Friday, September 14th, New York-based soul-pop upstarts Lawrence celebrated the release of their sophomore LP, Living Room, with a sold-out hometown performance at Brooklyn Bowl. The performance came at the tail end of a busy week of promotion including intimate NYC performances at the Mercury Lounge and the Blue Note, live-streamed spots with Billboard and Paste, and more. Living Room was officially released on Friday, and by the time the show began at Brooklyn Bowl, the album was already rocketing to the top of new music and R&B/soul charts on streaming services, and album single “Make A Move” had been included on Spotify’s “New Music Friday” playlist.

The album’s already-glowing reception was echoed by the Brooklyn Bowl crowd, who sang along to the new material like they’d known the music for years. As keyboardist/vocalist Clyde Lawrence remarked sincerely from the stage, “It’s the most amazing feeling after years of writing and thinking up these songs to come to the album release show and so many people are already singing along.”

Led by the brother-sister duo of Clyde and Gracie Lawrence, Lawrence shows are always a family affair. That familial aspect was even stronger than usual on Friday, as friends and family of the band lined the crowd. In addition, as Clyde mentioned sincerely from the stage, the band was thrilled to have the producers of each of their releases in the house for the performance—Eli Crews (Living Room), Eric Krasno (Breakfast), and Adam Schlesinger (Clyde’s Homesick EP). 

Lawrence filled their set with material from all three releases, including a number of live debuts from the newly released Living Room, an encore-closing rendition of Breakfast standout “Do You Wanna Do Nothing With Me“, a cover of the theme song from classic Nickelodeon cartoon Hey Arnold! merged with the title song from Homesick, and much more. The band also welcomed their supporting artists, guitarist James VIII and vocalist Victoria Canal to the stage during their encore for a powerful rendition of “Natural Woman”, the Carole King-, Gerry Goffin-, and Jerry Wexler-penned Aretha Franklin anthem.

Below, you can view a gallery of photos from Lawrence’s Living Room album release show at Brooklyn Bowl via photographer Andrew O’Brien and view a selection of videos from the performance including the Hey Arnold!/”Homesick” medley, the live debut of the album’s opening track, “More”, and the Aretha encore:

Lawrence – Hey Arnold! Theme Song -> “Homesick”

 [Video: Andrew O’Brien]

Lawrence – “More” [Live Debut]

[Video: Andrew O’Brien]

Lawrence – “Natural Woman” [Aretha Franklin cover]

[Video: Andrew O’Brien]

Lawrence’s Living Room is available to stream and download now via all major music platforms. In support of the new release, Lawrence is setting out on an extensive late-2018 world tour. Below, you can listen to Living Room in full and check out a list of the band’s upcoming tour stops. For more information, or to grab tickets to a Lawrence show near you, head to the band’s website.

Lawrence – Living Room – Full Album