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album reviews

Lau



Arc Light 9 ( 2009 )
The Burrian / Winter Moon / Horizontigo / Salty Boys / Banks of Marble / Stephen's / The Master / Frank and Flo's / Temple of Fiddes / Dear Prudence

Lau are Kris Drever, Martin Green and Aidan O'Rourke. Kris Drever is an Orcadian multi-instrumentalist and singer. Martin Green grew up playing English and Irish traditional music and has worked with the likes of Martin Carthy, Norma Waterson, Kathryn Tickell, Linda Thompson and Eliza Carthy. Aidan is a fiddle player and composer from the West Coast of Scotland and has played on over 60 albums as a session musician. Lau have been building a buzz on the live circuit for several years and they've been hailed as one of the most exciting folk acts around. 'Arc Light' is their third album (2nd studio set) and after I picked up on 'Live At The Bongo' last year i've been impatiently waiting for 'Arc Light' to arrive and it certainly doesn't let anybody down. The opener 'The Burrian' is in fact a fair indication of what's to come. This is a six minute near-instrumental tour-de-force with complex harmonics playing out between the various instruments yet strong and hummable melodies being woven and imbedded within these flowing sequences of harmony and instrumental virtuosity. At the other end of the LP we get a version of The Beatles 'Dear Prudence' complete with folk instrumentation and fairly faithful vocal arrangements - a kind of 'Beatles 'Unplugged' if you will.

'Horrizontigo-Alright In The Held' is an awe-inspiring and beautiful seven minutes of music. There's a spiritual heartbeat, there's the passing of time, there's British folk treated with all the importance of a major worldwide act, which sadly of course, Lau will probably never be. Beautiful melodies here again and when we reach the five minute mark and the sad, lovely serenity gives way to a jig of sorts, you're emotions are all over the place and it really does feel as if something very special has just happened. 'The Master' is arguably the best of the vocal tunes whilst 'Temple Of Fiddles' wraps up the album proper in suitably epic style. Where Lau go from here is a slight worry, if only because 'Arc Light' really is that good. Still, their mix of traditional and original folk tunes is something to cherish and 'Arc Light' is a contender for album of the year, no question.

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Readers Comments Jamie Orkney, Scotland Lol, it's nice to finally get to be one of those people who says their friends with an artist on here. Lau are great. Check out some of Kris Drever's folk festival live stuff if you can find it too. He's not as good as Ivan Drever though :)