Laura Veirs has announced her eleventh album titled My Echo due out 10/23 via Raven Marching Band and Bella Union. The album features Jim James, Bill Frisell, Karl Blau, M. Ward and others.
Veirs shared her thoughts about this anticipated release…
My Echo is my 11th solo album. It’s my “my songs knew I was getting divorced before I did” album. My conscious mind was trying as hard as I could to keep my family together but my subconscious mind was working on the difficult struggles in my marital life. I was part of a “Secret Poetry Group” that met and wrote poems monthly for a year during the writing of this record. Many of my poems turned into songs for this album. By the time the album was being mixed last fall, my ex-husband/producer Tucker Martine and I had decided to go our separate ways. We were a great musical team for many years but we struggled to be compatible in our marriage and family life and that struggle is reflected in this album.
In this new batch of songs I imagine escaping from some sort of prison or cage. Advancing age, the confines of domesticity, our oppressive government and the threat of the apocalypse permeate these songs. In these songs my heart craves certainty and permanence but none is to be found. It’s an album about disintegration. It reveals my artist’s intuition at work.
Although these songs were written before quarantine they are strangely relevant to times in which we find ourselves currently. You will find me staring at the walls (“Turquoise Walls”). You will find me feeling grateful to be alive (“Memaloose Island”). You will find me accepting the ephemeral nature of life (“Vapor Trails” and “All the Things”). You will find me searching for personal freedom while feeling trapped (“Freedom Feeling”). You will find me trying to accept that sometimes the best thing to do is to sit still and do nothing at all (“Another Space and Time”).
Track listing:
1. Freedom Feeling
2. Another Space and Time
3. Turquoise Walls
4. Memaloose Island
5. End Times
6. Burn Too Bright
7. Brick Layer
8. All the Things
9. I Sing to the Tall Man
10. Vapor Trails
I hope you enjoy these new songs.
Best,
Laura Veirs
Portland, OR – July 2020
Portland, OR-based singer-songwriter Laura Veirs has forged a career singing personal songs of romantic intoxication, everyday vignettes, and social commentary that are often heavy on introspection and intense character scrutiny. She is fascinated with the intersection of poetry and science and explores this in her lyrics.
Veirs made her debut in 1999, releasing a self-titled CD, recorded live and featuring just her and guitar. Heading to a proper studio for her next release, The Triumphs & Travails of Orphan Mae, it too was self-released (though it eventually saw greater distribution through UK label Bella Union). 2003 brought the release of Troubled by the Fire, a full-band effort that found the artist sharing the studio with luminaries like Bill Frisell. She signed to Nonesuch the following year and recorded the atmospheric Carbon Glacier, followed by Year of Meteors in August of 2005 and the indie-rock sounding Saltbreakers in 2007.
Veirs returned to her folk-leaning roots with 2010’s July Flame and switched gears again the following year with Tumble Bee, drawing on the American songbook to create her first-ever children’s record. In the summer of 2013, she released Warp & Weft, produced by her then-husband and longtime producer, Grammy-nominated Tucker Martine.
In 2016, Veirs collaborated with celebrated artists Neko Case and k.d. lang for the critically lauded trio album case/lang/veirs. Following up in early 2018, Veirs issued her tenth solo outing, The Lookout, a thematic collection based on the fragility of precious things. The album featured guest vocals from Sufjan Stevens and Jim James of My Morning Jacket.
Also in 2018 Veirs published her first children’s book entitled Libba, the Magnificent Life of Elizabeth Cotten (Chronicle) which received multiple awards. She also produced a podcast about the lives of musician parents called Midnight Lightning featuring interviews with the likes of Carol Kaye, Rosanne Cash, Corin Tucker and Meshel Ndegeocello among others.
