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Laura Veirs doesn’t do interviews; she does conversations. So, we sat in a quiet Capitol Hill teahouse and conversed about a diverse range of topics, from music and DIY ethics to the nature of man—good or evil? When asked about being a solo artist, Veirs took a long time to reflect because she never really considered herself as such. Her songs begin in her barn—a private musical sanctuary that lights up her face when she describes it. Here she likes to work alone; she sets the basics for the songs before going to her band, the Tortured Souls. “I set the structure of the songs, but I leave a lot of open space, and sometimes they will come up with melodic ideas to fill in the spaces.” Laura makes it very clear that though the songs begin with her, “We all work together to fill it out.”
I asked her to cite some musical influences and inspiration; unflinchingly she responds, “My band.” She goes on to describe their individual contributions and beautiful distinctions, the various ways in which she admires their work, then pauses to ask if that’s what I meant. She is the Veirs in Laura Veirs, but clearly considers herself a part of a whole and not apart from the whole.
“Carbon Glacier” is Ms. Veirs’ recently released third studio album, the second for the UK label Bella Union. From her early days as a punk rocker, she still finds her DIY ethic very alive. “I think a lot of people feel like they just need help all the time. They don’t have a booking agent, they don’t have a label, they don’t have the right producer, they don’t have the right demo, they don’t have a publicist, they don’t have, don’t have. Whereas the DIY movement is like, ‘You do have it.’ You have within your own resources—within your own life—the capacity to book shows, to tour, to record, to produce the art, and that was really profound for me.”
Writing complete songs on the road with all the business of touring has become too difficult. Instead, Laura keeps a notebook for stream of consciousness prose. Later, in her barn, she’ll come back to this collection for lyrical ideas and inspiration. For her, words themselves are very exciting. Although, “Words can’t really get at everything, that’s why I like words and music together because they can get at the deep parts of life. I think the combination of words and music is really powerful if you work it right.”
For Ms. Veirs, herein lies the rub: the struggle to find some truth and to connect words and sounds in a way that sheds light on life and finds larger connections in the world between people, events, and experiences. I lead her with some words about creativity being religious. She adds that it can also be very frustrating, “because I’m trying to grasp this ineffable beauty of life and capture it in song and it’s like ‘How do you do that?’ Sometimes it’s totally impossible and it’s like a big flop. I can feel it starting to slide away when it’s happening. But then other times, I can feel it—I’m capturing it, it’s working and that’s the feeling, that’s the good feeling, that’s the good stuff.”
As wonderful as it is to play music to huge crowds all over Europe and smaller crowds across the US, Ms. Veirs isn’t quite sure if music is the be-all-end-all for her. I can’t tell if it’s her shy, humble self or the simple fact that so many things interest her. Maybe it’s only a matter of time before she’s off to the next big thing—writing novels, children’s stories, movies, acting, directing. Whatever it may be, I’m sure this indelible spirit will shine.
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