Mozart Estate is the band of Lawrence
who was in Felt in the 80s and Denim in the 90s
before forming Go-Kart Mozart in the late 90s
which recently changed its name to Mozart Estate

Which is to say, Felt and Denim are different bands
whereas Mozart Estate is a continuation, an evolution, of Go-Kart Mozart
And I’m going to talk about their classic song, their anthem, their masterpiece
‘Relative Poverty’


On Thursday March 30 2023
Lawrence and his consummate band
Played a gig at Boston Music Room in Tufnell Park
Where they performed that song not once, but twice


Fittingly: for ‘Relative Poverty’ is a song that has been recorded and released twice
on the 2018 Go-Kart Mozart album ‘Mozart's Mini-Mart’
and 2023’s Mozart Estate album
‘Pop-Up! Ker-Ching! and the Possibilities of Modern Shopping’.


I’m a fan of the do-over in art
I don’t believe art should be one shot
- until something is right,
an artist is entitled to remake, rerecord, revive and return to a work over and over
An artist should also return to a work whose time has come
as is the case for ‘Relative Poverty’


‘I’m living in relative poverty /
I’m living on a tenner a day /
Goodness gracious, a tenner a day’
is the mantra that possesses the song
- it swirls around again and again,
before the kiss off: ‘please don’t take my tenner away’.


In 2018, the song felt like an anthem for the poor sods on benefits in Tory Britain
‘please don’t take my tenner away’ being a plea to the ghouls in power
However in 2023 ‘Please don’t take my tenner away’ is a universal appeal to the indomitable forces of The Cost-of-Living Crisis:
because pretty soon something
…food, rent, Council tax, booze, train travel…
is going to bite you in the arse and take that tenner away.


- ‘please don’t take my tenner away’ -
It’s absurd and forlorn and pitiful
but isn’t absurd and forlorn and pitiful how living in Britain feels right now?


The poverty and desperation of the song
is shrouded in a bouncy cartoon-coloured bop
either as an antidote to or coping mechanism for these cruel times.


As anyone who’s been on benefits can attest, poverty is exhausting.
Maybe we’re all getting a taste of that now
shaving off the frivolous bits that make life fun,
working an extra day, picking up overtime,
sucking up another bill or price increase,
the constant background hum of worry
Worry about The threat of what’s coming next
And how or whether you will be able to cope


On that damp, grey North London evening,
it was a joy to be in a room celebrating a true artist -
not many are lucky enough to stay productive across four decades -
singing along to a song that is as cathartic as it is timely.


So good on you, Lawrence
Record it twice, sing it twice - the message needs repeating.
Too many of us are living in relative poverty
- and in Britain 2023 too many are lucky if the safety net we have is as much as a tenner a day.