Tom Laverack: Press

-- With twenty years gone by since his debut album, Tom Laverack has honed his writing and performing into a perfectly matched set. His voice and songs meet one another on varied turf and go gallivanting about the hillsides. World-weariness runs through the the entire set in a way that a man two decades younger couldn't have fully comprehended. "Not much changes from place to place but the scenery," Laverack sings in "Dead Dog". The soulful, horn-bolstered "Running Out Of Road" delivers on its title with a certainty tempered by a still-unquenched thirst for life. "Foolish Enough To Think" weds pop smarts to a rough-and-tumble groove and leathery vocals. The title song, rich with allegory, hypnotizes along the course of its folkish structure, punctuated with Joni Mitchell-like chordal turns and thoughtfully compelling drumming.

It is a rare occurrence when an artist’s compositions frame a film project. But, that is just what has happened to former Just Desserts frontman Tom Laverack and his introspective marvel, Cave Drawings on Sojourn Records.

Three of Cave Drawings' songs, "Precious Little," "No Shame," and "Running Out of Road," were used for Larry Fessenden's feature, The Last Winter. "Precious Little," produced by Mark Ambrosino, stretches the vast, colorful musical landscape of Laverack's mind with sharp, insightful, poetic lyricism. Bolstered by strong sidemen such as Jeff Langston (Antony and the Johnsons) and Marc Shulman (Suzanne Vega), Laverack finds the freedom and the flow in the breezy opening track, "Coney Island Heart." Slowing down with reflection, Laverack's tools of description become the soft spoken prose of "Kickin' Around." And, powering Cave Drawings' rhythmic counterpoint, Ambrosino finds the catchy, simmering soulful stretches brewing inside of "Childhood Friend."

A deeply satisfying listen, Tom Laverack's Cave Drawings rewards with each sublimely successive playing.
Cave Drawings will be released January 22 on Sojourn Records.

Tom Laverack's "Cave Drawings" CD is a contemporary rock homage to the songwriting influences of everyone from Dylan to Zevon and many lyrical master points in between. Not quite political, but deep within the experience of life, Laverack writes from wisdom drenched years that vacillates between hope and misery in a moving pop endearing format. The record opens with "Coney Island Heart" and Laverack sings, "god only knows when you'll believe in me", and the tempo has a freedom to it that touches Cougar and Petty straight-ahead sense. Nice. Track 3, "Precious Little", brings Laverack's vocals into the forefront as he spins that there is 'precious little for you to hang onto'. Track 4, "Childhood Friend", is produced and mastered with a dream-like shimmer in a reminiscent Dylan sentiment as Laverack sings, 'i wouldn't have it any other way, maybe in the end, i just might have to depend on my childhood friend'. It's the most compelling tune on the CD. "Running out of Road" kicks an R&B blues groove as Laverack paints a dead-end ode with Hammond organ supporting the easy beat and intimate tune. The title track, "Cave Drawings", again shows Laveracks' knack and gift for words. He writes, 'i've got these cave drawings, darling, that's all, just to let you know that i was here'. The vocal delivery is sincere and compelling in this complete artistic package