Laura Veirs
Saltbreakers

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TRACKLISTING: 1 Pink Light, 2 Ocean Night Song, 3 Don't Lose Yourself, 4 Drink Deep, 5 Wandering Kind, 6 Nightingale,
7 Saltbreakers, 8 To the Country, 9 Cast a Hook, 10 Phantom Mountain, 11 Black Butterfly, 12 Wrecking,

OVERVIEW: Listening to Laura Veirs is like looking up into the night sky and suddenly witnessing a meteor shower: there’s something startling and magical, both intimate and awesome, about her songs. The nature-obsessed images Veirs conjures up and the mesmerising sound she creates are as indelible as the blaze of shooting stars. ‘Saltbreakers, her third album release in three years. It is her most beautifully realised band-oriented disc yet. Produced by Tucker Martine (Decemberists, Built To Spill), it is by turns haunting, playful, tender and fierce, embracing everything from machine-driven beats (‘Don’t Lose Yourself’) to angelic gospel choirs (‘To The Country’) to fuzzed-out guitars and driving alt-rock rhythms (‘Phantom Mountain’). Veirs, who "spent a year bubbling over with emotion I had to channel into music", cut most of these tracks in Seattle, Washington. She is once again accompanied by her longtime studio/touring band-mates, whom she originally christened the Tortured Souls, but now calls Saltbreakers - guitarist Karl Blau, keyboardist Steve Moore, Martine on drums, plus the occasional, otherworldly presence of violinist Eyvind Kang. (They take a memorable turn as vocal chorus on the title track, gamely following Veirs’ intricate, evocative lyrics.) ‘To The Country’, however, was recorded in the Nashville cabin once occupied by June Carter and Johnny Cash, with Veirs backed by an eight-member Baptist choir, some of whom had previously performed on the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou? ‘To The Country’, with its gorgeous shape notes singing, is the stunning centrepiece of an album that is as entrancing as staring at the sea or gazing at the stars, waiting for the next one to fall.