Topic: Laura Veirs

[NatchDan]

Holy crap this woman is amazing. At first glance she's just another singer/songwriter out of Seattle, but take even thirty seconds to listen to any song of hers and you'll find incredible musicianship, great lyrics and a wonderfully wry sense of looking at things.

I saw her live last Thursday, supported by someone else amazing I'll get to in a moment, but she took to the stage with an acoustic guitar, a loop pedal, and 45 minutes worth of the best indie music I've heard in years. She played this, and as soon as I got home I recorded this.

She was supported by a woman named Liz Alex Guy, who has been lurking around the Seattle alt/art-indie scene for a long time now (she was arrested in the WTO riots and Laura wrote a song about it). She makes music under the name "Led To Sea", but what I saw on Thursday was... Amazing. She took to the stage, also with a loop pedal, and a violin. She used off-kilter rhythms, slightly experimental keys and her phenomenal voice - seriously, I haven't heard a voice like that live... ever - to build these amazing arrangements you could get lost in for days piece by piece.

I got them both to sign a poster for me! Whoo.

[Quemaqua]

Dreamy... I really liked that.  She's got the kind of voice I really go for.  Lots of people would probably disagree, but this is about as sexy as it gets for me where modern female voices are concerned.  This one is a really nice song, too.  I'll have to check out more of her for sure.  You're right, the lyrics are awesome.

 ... damn you, I keep listening to these now.  I really really like this one.

And dude, I like your cover.  It's a nice rendition of the original with a different character to it, I think mostly because of your voice.  Good stuff!

Nice to see you again, by the way.  You vanished for a good while!  I've been wondering if you were gonna' lavish any sounds on us or just leave us sitting out here waiting.   

[JacksRag(e)]

I thoroughly enjoyed her collaboration with the Decemberists muchly.