Braxfield Road: The unsuspecting road in south London that has its own electronic album
I wouldn’t blame you for never having visited Brockley. Most people haven’t, the quaint little district is tucked in between Peckham and Lewisham in southeast London, and is known, mostly, for eliciting a laugh out of anyone who first hears the name – “You mean, like the vegetable?” – well, yes, and no.
In my case, I haven’t just visited the area; I’ve also lived there for three years upon my very first move to the big city from a tiny town up north that nobody knows, so I won’t bore you with the name of it. All of this to say: upon my move, everything felt cinematic to me – Brockley is not exactly known for being the beating heart of the metropolis; really, for a spot in zone two of the capital city, it’s surprisingly town-ish.
Peruse any of the streets, and you’ll see new mums with prams and overpriced cappuccinos, tugging a chihuahua along on its leash – while down the road, Lewisham and New Cross boast more hustle and bustle, and admittedly more danger, Brockley sprawls between plush, green fields and happy, fairy-lit drinking establishments… Maybe it’s just me, I thought, maybe I’m bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
To my surprise, Brockley didn’t just strike a chord with me; in fact, it’s the subject of an entire album written by electronic artist Loverground and released in 2022 – Lewisham Is Home consists of eight tracks that range from nostalgic dreamscapes, heavy on chiming keys, to disco and house funk-themed tunes with an undeniable bass. The closing track, ‘Braxfield Road’, ties everything in a bow by referencing a specific, nondescript street, slap-bang in the middle of the district.
Braxfield Road is, pretty much, famous for absolutely nothing. I suppose that’s the charm; the undeniable feeling that, at any point, the normality of life can transcend beyond you and into the empirically obscure world of art. This is a street like any other street. Until you feel in your bones, as I did, its undeniable charm, you’d think nothing of the spot.
There are other geo-specific shoutouts on the album, too, as a sample in the title track hears collaborator PEM share the instructions for how the listener, who also becomes an eavesdropper on this seemingly intimate explanation, might get to his house. He adds at the end of the groovy song, “The whole of Lewisham, I’m comfy everywhere, but Ladywell – I did a lot of finding myself.”
In a similar vein, ‘Braxfield Road’ begins with the familiar sound of the London Overground tittering in its usual way: “This is Brockley. This is the London Overground service to Highbury and Islington. The next stop is New Cross Gate.”
The listener is not quite at the album’s destination yet, so Loverground uses an open, expansive sonic landscape to pull you down the happy streets and into his own world, which, happily, is also mine.
At the end of Braxfield Road, one of London’s best fish and chips shops draws in hordes of locals every night. Dozens of yards to the left, Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery provides an atmospheric antithesis to the jolly south London shenanigans of the now-immortalised spot. There, the dead lay to rest. On Lewisham Is Home, Loverground celebrates the living.
