Laura Veirs: Hambury Club, Brighton 26/1/10
I first discovered Laura Veirs on a sampler CD I bought in a charity shop. The song I heard was 'Icebound Stream' and it was a song that pierced me like a beautiful knife. It has a haunting sound that makes me wonder if it were inspired by native american music. From then on I bought every album she had released. The opportunity of seeing her live a few miles from where I lived seemed like a miracle come true.
The venue is small and quite intimate as well as having the magical aura that one expects from an independent Brighton venue – and that suits the haunting beauty of Laura's songs. The two support acts were by members of her backing band who have their own projects. This may seem indulgent, but it was perfectly in tune with Laura's generous spirit.
Laura took the stage, all five foot of her and six months pregnant, and opened with 'Carol Kaye' from her latest album 'July Flame' – this is a song about a female bassist who has appeared on some of the greatest 60s and 70s albums to have ever been produced. 'Icebound Stream' was as hypnotic as the studio version on 'Carbon Glacier'. I videoed a bit of the performance (to be found on my Facebook page) and it is interesting to see the way the audience moved with the song as if involved with some ritual.
The one hour set proved my axiom that Laura Veirs cannot write a bad song. Every number had poetry and invention. She joked with the audience and added a few songs to the end in thanks for the 'good vibes' she was receiving back from them. She is the young Queen of Americana, a realm that has no monarchy. She is the homely girl who ignores the jibes of the idiot superficiality of America and crosses the road in her ankle socks and charity shop jewelry to a small place decorated with magical symbols and philosophical questioning. She picks up a banjo, as if out of impulse and starts to find out what it can say, and doesn't stop until it has corresponded with the deep magic inside her – a place of sun bleached painted signage, dried grassland and Cherokee totems poking through the good earth.
She's playing in Brighton again in December 2010. Become infected with her magic - find her on YouTube and Spotify.