Laura Veirs - Year Of Meteors

Laura Veirs will be touring soon with Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, so that's what caught my attention at first, but then I received her new Year Of Meteors in the mail and I knew it was the first and only thing I was listening to that day. OK, probably not the only, but at least the first.

Anyway, Veirs is a Seattle resident by way of Colorado and she has a background in geology - this relationship with the earth and it's makeup is a theme throughout her work, but also this record is about her travels, and the difficulties and adventures of extensive travels, throughout this earth. Veirs wrote the majority of this record while touring to support her previous release, Carbon Glacier. A review of Carbon Glacier.



Veirs is described on her website as, "A prolific writer and gifted musician, Laura Veirs is a musical risk-taker. Her recordings offer a haunting mix of deadpan folk and blues with sparse arrangements and Pacfic Northwest flavors", and she is gifted and her song-writing is really great, but her music is more pop-oriented with elements of folk, blues and even country. Furthermore, I wouldn't go so far as to say the arrangements in Year Of Meteors are sparse either. I mean, they're not elaborate in the terms of Architecture In Helsinki or Arcade Fire, but it's (mostly) not just a single singer-songwriter playing an acoustic guitar either. - I'm not sure who came up with this quote really, but it's really not so accurate in describing Veirs' current work. Year Of Meteors is a full band effort. Veirs collaborated with her studio band, The Tortured Souls, who often play live dates with her, to create Year Of Meteors. The sounds are full and rich, punctuated by guitar bursts, handclaps and melodic keyboards, pianos and strings.

Chris Walla and Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie have gone out of their way to praise Veirs' new album which was released on Nonesuch Records. This kind of praise and being asked to tour with a songwriter like Colin Meloy is probably evidence enough of Veirs' talents and abilities, but just to push the point, this is an excellent record full of silky elegance, sadness, yearning and adventure. I highly recommend you check it out.

Other notes:
The album was produced by Tourtured Soul band member Tucker Martine and his production and arrangement have been attributed to giving Veirs' songs "more bite" by injecting some good old-fashion pop sensibilities to the music. Thus also, and this is probably why she is getting more recognition despite her all ready obvious talent, bringing her to a wider audience.

From Nonesuch:
Veirs had spent most of 2004 touring in support of the hauntingly beautiful Carbon Glacier, her breakthrough effort and Nonesuch debut. She started out in Europe, where she was greeted with overwhelming critical praise and sold-out houses. Then Veirs worked her way around the States, where she was still just being discovered (though the reviews were also often superlative). The experience was at times heady, other times grueling, and she incorporated it into her new songs. However, given Veirs’ vividly descriptive yet dream-like lyrics, you won’t learn anything about her actual itinerary. Year of the Meteors is no ordinary travelogue, but it will definitely take you on a remarkable journey.

Laura Veirs - Galaxies (Highest Possible Rec!!)
Laura Veirs - Magnetized