Lawrence is the main pseudonym of Peter M. Kersten, a German producer of downcast techno and ambient house who also goes by the moniker Sten. The onetime gardener has released a bounty of albums and singles on labels like Mule Musiq, Kompakt, and Dial, the Hamburg, Germany-based imprint he co-founded with Carsten Jost and Turner. As with the material from a fair amount of his contemporaries, the division between Lawrence's rhythms and textures was often a blurry one, though he gradually embraced a cleaner sound with a broader instrumental palette. Clearly inspired by the likes of Larry Heard and Theo Parrish, Lawrence's output nonetheless maintained a unique touch and mood that mirrored the grayscale graphic design in which it tended to be presented. He first received acclaim for expressive, atmospheric techno albums like 2003's The Absence of Blight, and has steadily released full-lengths ranging from the more beat-driven (2016's Yoyogi Park) to the weightless (2021's Birds on the Playground, the Music for Plants series).

After debuting on Dial with 2000's Sporturlaub, Lawrence appeared on Kompakt with 2001's Teaser, and made his full-length debut with Lawrence in 2002 (co-released by Dial and Ladomat 2000). The Absence of Blight appeared in 2003, and Ghostly International issued 2004's Spark EP. 2005's The Night Will Last Forever was given wider distribution thanks to a joint deal with NovaMute. Lowlights from the Past and Future (Mule Electronic, 2006) cherry-picked from a large quantity of 12" releases and remixes. The same label also issued the 2009 full-length Until Then, Goodbye.

The following decade, Lawrence continued many of his affiliations while adding Dial sublabel Laid, DJ Koze's Pampa, and Hamburg's Smallville, among others. Cocoon issued his 2011 mix CD Timeless. Films Windows (Dial, 2013), the ambient A Day in the Life (Mule Musiq, 2014), and Yoyogi Park (Mule Musiq, 2016) added to his studio album discography. The full-length Illusion arrived on his own Dial label in 2018, and the EPs Moonlight (Giegling) and Black Cats (Mule Musiq) arrived in 2019. The two-part ambient release Music for Plants was digitally issued in 2020. Birds on the Playground, mixing improvisations and field recordings, and The City of Tomorrow EP both appeared in 2021. Music for Plants (III IV) and the EP Birds on the Dancefloor appeared in 2022. ~ Andy Kellman & Paul Simpson, Rovi