Laura Veirs is everything I like in a musician: unconventionally poetic, slightly quirky, and well-read without seeming pretentious. Year of Meteors was the soundtrack to the fall and winter following its release in 2005; the album saw me through a lot of emotional ups and downs, and soothed me in a way that I was both awed by and could relate to.
Her new album Saltbreakers, released in the beginning of this month, is just as good. Continuing her elemental theme, a lot of the songs on Saltbreakers are, obviously, nautical. The opening track, "Pink Light", opens with one of the best opening lines of any album I've ever heard: "Sorry I was cruel, I was protecting myself". The album continues in that vein, taking on relationships in beautiful, intense, and unique ways.
The last time I saw Laura, she was playing The Mercury Lounge here in NYC-- an overly small venue, I thought, given the relative success of Year of Meteors at the time. However, the venue, while full, didn't sell out (surprisingly). She put on a hell of a live show, sounding as good if not better than shes does on the album and hanging out selling her own merch before and after the show. She'll be back on 16 May, this time at the Gramercy Theatre, and I honestly can't wait.
Laura Veirs - Rialto (from Year of Meteors)
Laura Veirs - Pink Light (from Saltbreakers)
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