For the past decade, the New Orleans band Lawn has thrived on the palpable chemistry between co-lead singers and songwriters Mac Folger and Rui De Magalhaes. Though each boasts distinct sensibilities—Folger’s songs are breezy, jangly, and personal while De Magalhaes’ are biting and propulsive post-punk—they’ve seamlessly blended their idiosyncratic styles over three unassailable indie rock full-lengths, while becoming a fixture in a thriving New Orleans scene, and sharing stages with artists like Momma, Hovvdy and Omni.
Today, following the announce of a recent run of tour dates with Momma, the band are announcing their return, signing to Exploding In Sound and sharing their first new music since their 2022 LP, a single called "Sports Gun."
Engineered by Greg Obis (of Stuck) at Chicago's Palisades Studio and mixed by Dave Vettraino (Dehd, Deeper), “Sports Gun” simmers with intensity thanks to its pummeling bass riff, layers of feedback-laden guitars. It’s galvanizing, loud, and unrelenting.
De Magalhaes says of the track:
"Sports Gun is supposed to be written from the point of view of a coach/parental figure who pushes the subject to their absolute limit without regard for them otherwise. It came from a short story I wrote pre-pandemic. The idea was that any trauma - long or short term notwithstanding -would only be implied, if that, and that we only get to experience the narrative through a very thin, biased lens. It’s a frail attempt at writing something inspired by Julio Cortazar, but I still thought it fit the drive of the song. It is supposed to be more about the lengths some people go to accomplish something, conflating happiness with ambition, and overall being inept at being content.
I knew that we were going to an actual studio this time around, so we built the song around the idea that it would sound “heavier” for us. We had wanted to record with Greg [Obis] and really loved the sound he was getting from his own music, so we were open to the notion of layering as much noise as we could. The original demo had a slightly different beat and I sort of rapped the lyrics. Once we got into the studio and everyone started adding their own take, I just went for the yell instead."