Lau

Midnight and Closedown

                Lau — Midnight and Closedown (Feb. 8, 2019)•≡•    Scottish trio effortlessly blending traditional folk music with electronics and alternative post~rock.
Formed: 2006 in Edinburgh, Scotland
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Album release: Feb. 8, 2019
Record Label: Reveal Records
Duration:
Tracks:
01. I Don’t Want to Die Here   4:57
02. She Put on Her Headphones   3:15
03. Toy Tigers   5:37
04. Echolalia   7:13
05. Itshardtoseemtobeokwhenyourenot   5:43
06. Dark Secret   5:54
07. Return to Portland   7:10
08. Riad   5:20
PRESS:
•≡•    ‘Fearless musical ambition, a diverse, mesmerising collection laced with melancholy and foreboding. Outrageous virtuosity, ground breaking Scots/Anglo trio. Folk Album of the Month’  — MOJO
•≡•    This is music in evolution — tempo and dynamics are in constant motion, in a state of flux that’s paused and re~started like a tape machine. Melody, poetry, emotion and memory weave in and out like stories. Midnight And Closedown is the next chapter in Lau’s fascinating story. As ever from Lau, it’s a unique and exceptional album. — Album of The Month, FolkRadioUK
•≡•    ‘Midnight and Closedown, confirms the band’s always~curious, brilliant reinvigorations of traditional sound, this time with John Parish (PJ Harvey) producing’ — THE GUARDIAN
•≡•    ‘This intelligent, truly progressive music proves again that Lau are the real deal, warping, mesmerising’ — PROG MAGAZINE
•≡•    ‘Beatlessque melodies and subtle layers of electronica add a robust strength to their tender lyricism’ — UNCUT
•≡•    ‘Top of the World — Lau are among the most important artists of the last two decades’. — SONGLINES
•≡•    ‘It’s a brooding,menacing album in places — Drever,Green and O’Rourke give vent to their view on Brexit and the isolationist fears that raises, fiercely accomplished and inventive’ — DAILY EXPRESS
•≡•    ‘Lau break all the rules brilliantly — nothing short of alchemy. Marvel at how this trio continues to combine the innovative with the instantly recognisable’. — IRISH MUSIC MAGAZINE
•≡•    ‘Lau are finding bold new ways to create. The songs posit big questions, albeit obliquely, about Scotland as a nation state, Britain as an island, about communities in remote places, people living in bubbles — a keening lament for our times’ — THE HERALD
•≡•    ‘Lau are a shining beacon of hope in our hazy present’ — THE SKINNY
•≡•    ‘There is genuinely no~one out there to match them, no easy equation by which you can describe their compelling sound. Sometimes they don’t even play recognisable instruments’ — THE NATIONAL
•≡•    ‘An album of dynamic arrangement and thought, Lau have once again stepped up to the plate and delivered magnificently’ — LIVERPOOL SOUND AND VISION
•≡•    ‘As brilliant as it is unexpected — a whole new direction’ — FOLKING.COM
•≡•    ‘some of the most compelling music in any genre’ — SHIREFOLK
•≡•    ‘Lau. Cool Band. Don’t sound like anybody else..’ — JOHN PARISH
Album Review by Max Sefton | 06 Feb 2019 | Score: ★★★★
•≡•    Scottish trad music supergroup Lau return with their ‘Brexit album’ Midnight and Closedown, a shining beacon of hope in our hazy present Midnight and Closedown is the fifth album from traditional music trio Lau. Renowned for pushing at the boundaries of folk music, the record — which takes its name from Seamus Heaney’s The Shipping Forecast — sees Kris Drever, Martin Green and Aidan O’Rourke musing on the afflictions of our time over some of their most timeless music.
•≡•    Produced by John Parish, it captures the intimate traditions of folk music against queasy lyrics that tease out the discontent and isolation of the modern world. Drever has described the songs as being “about islands… big islands and little islands and human islands”, while O’Rourke has been even more blunt: “We wanted to make a Brexit album.” These sentiments are rarely so on the nose but from the haunting fiddle of ‘Echolalia’ to the glitch rhythms that underpin ‘Return to Portland’, these are songs that know how to subtly unsettle.
•≡•    The smudged fingers on Dark Secret and the gorgeous acoustic closer Riad are intimate moments, beckoning the listener inside with camaraderie and tenderness, and Toy Tigers is as close as the group have ever come to a singalong, as they float over a shimmering electronic backdrop. If our collective future is hazy, Lau are a shining beacon lighting the way.
Listen to: Echolalia, Toy Tigers  • https://www.theskinny.co.uk/
Website: http://www.lau-music.co.uk/
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Midnight and Closedown

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