If It's Too Loud...

Photo by SHelby Brakken Laura Veirs has been edging away from her typical folk/alt-country sound to something into a more rock or punk sound, but her latest single defies all of those genres. "Eucalyptus" drops most instrumentation in favor of electronic sounding beats with occasional guitar and what sounds like synths. Veirs's vocals are the main focus, with the beats far in the back of her singing. It's an oddly hypnotic sound that shows Veirs branching way out of her typical comfort zone. It may be an odd choice for a single, but it's going to have you even more intrigued in her upcoming album. Laura Veirs says about her new song: “This is a song about the community love I felt when I went through my divorce.  It’s also about new love and rediscovering myself as a solo person post-divorce. I reminisce here about ‘finding the old girl I was’ back when I visited my brother in California when he was in college, where they have lovely eucalyptus trees. Some eucalyp...

Photo by Shelby Brakken The latest from Laura Veirs continues her move away from a traditional singer-songwriter or folk structure and more towards her punk roots. "Seaside Haiku" is definitely not a punk song, but it's even less of a folk song. Veirs has constructed a dark alt-rocker on this one, complete with fuzzed out guitars. The guitar on this one is reminding me a lot of Throwing Muses mixed with Courtney Barnett. It's oddly hypnotic and is somehow uplifting despite its darkness. This one just feels cathartic. "Seaside Haiku" comes from a series of haikus Laura Veirs wrote on a solo winter vacation in Seaside, OR. She says of the new song: “ This song captures the feeling I had of my emerging independence as a solo woman in the world during that wintry time .  It’s been a learning curve for me to figure out how not to give too much of myself in relationships at the expense of my own needs. This is a song to remind myself of that, and also to remind al...

Photo by Shelby Brakken Portland, OR's Laura Veirs is known for being a folk/alt-country singer-songwriter. On her latest single, Veirs expands her sound quite a bit. Sure, "Winter Windows" still fits into the ever expanding world of folk and alt-country, but it sees Veirs stretching out into post-punk territory. It's a pretty high energy and frantic sounding song that uses feedback for the sake of feedback surprisingly liberally. "Winter Windows" is the kind of song where the vocals seem out of step with the music at times, but by design. There is definitely a sense of aggression I don't typically associate with Veirs, but there is also a lot of joy as well. In a press release, Laura Veirs says her new song is "...  very much about the strength of mothers and the power that women in cooperation have to shape their own lives and the lives of children. It’s about us taking the reins of life and sharing our internal light and power. I believe these ra...