📼 Musical Minds: A Conversation with Clyde Lawrence

I was recently honored to receive a few brief answers to a few short questions from Clyde Lawrence, one of the lead musicians of a brother-sister duo called Lawrence. The topic of their sibling dynamic, general life advice, and advice on being a musician arose--so here is a part of the communication I received.

Joseph: You and Gracie seem to have a very interesting dynamic; it's not every day we see brother and sister duos making music the way you two do. Your relationship often reminds me of my own relationship with my sister, and "Figure it Out" is such a relatable song. Why did you take so long to write a song about your relationship with each other? 

Clyde: You know it's funny, like, Gracie and I get so many questions about our sibling dynamic and yet it wasn't until "Figure it Out" that we actually wrote a song about our sibling dynamic. It seemed so obvious once we did it, but it was very hard to do because, you know, we like to present this front that we are so aligned on everything, and typically we are, but, you know, it felt like a very vulnerable moment for us to write a song actually about kind of a fight that we got into.

Joseph: Since songs about your relationship are limited to, well, one, most of your other songs are about relationships with other people--some of them upbeat and happy, but some, like "The Weather" are very forlorn and low in mood. How do you, especially in recent years, keep yourself in high spirits? How do you overcome some of the darker moments you sing about?

Clyde: I absolutely think that, like, merely seeking out positivity, like saying "shoot some positivity my way" . . . like if you're seeking that out for yourself, and I'm no philosopher, I'm no psychologist, but I think that you'd already have such a leg up on coping with everything you're dealing with cause you know that it's important to find things that make you feel better, rather than just kind of wallowing in all of it. Keep finding things that make you happy, and go for those things.

Joseph: You got your start very very young writing music for movies (your first song was featured in a film when you were only six!). Do you have any advice about how to keep working on music, especially nowadays where many, many small bands are trying to make it big and are battling each other for attention?

Clyde: Don't let it become about a rivalry; start playing music with your friends, write a song with those friends. Or, if you like to keep your bands separate and keep the little rivalry going, put on a show with those friends and have it be that all of those different friends and fans come see all of the bands, and then your fans will become fans of each other. You know, we have a lot of bands we could have a rivalry with but instead we try to treat them like our best friends. You know there's that expression--rising tides lift all boats. And just keep putting out music!

You can find Clyde's music on Spotify by searching for Lawrence, and you can learn more at his website, here.