Tower Block in a Jam Jar

Though there’s been a slight name change, former Felt/Denim frontman Lawrence’s latest vehicle sees him trundling down a similar retro-glam/novelty-pop lane as he has been with Go-Kart Mozart for the past two decades. In fact, Tower Block in a Jam Jar is largely a re-recording of 2005’s lost Go-Kart Mozart LP, Tearing Up the Album Charts.  Though still some way off his penthouse pop star dreams, Lawrence’s stock in 2025 is significantly higher than it was at the start of the millennium when he was homeless and recovering from heroin addiction. As such, he can now afford to fully realise these brilliant, frequently hilarious songs. The joyful “Summer Is Here,” inappropriately jaunty junky ditty “Donna and the Dope Fiends,” and still glorious anthem for the work-shy “Selfish & Lazy & Greedy” all sparkle anew with a 70s pop glow and FM rock crunch that sounds closer to his 1992 masterpiece Back in Denim than their more rinky-dink original forms. Whether or not Tower Block in a Jam Jar delivers him the commercial success he craves remains to be seen, but it’s a multistorey testament to Lawrence’s singular genius.