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From the album, On The Haunted Man, the track 'Laura' is quite the most wonderful song; full of melancholy and ardent desire but it makes me want to know who the titular character is.
Does anyone know who Laura was and what fate befell her that such a powerful reveries be composed in her memory?
- I don't think "Bat" has ever stated who it is - some speculation inspired by a "friend" and Laura Jane Grace (?)
<thanks 'haven't listened to it for yonks 🙂 >
I have heard or read about this somewhere, but it’s gone completely. I’ll have to dig about for it.
Yeah, it’s what I remembered, it’s about a friend of Natasha’s but her name wasn’t Laura…
I guess the story’s in the lyrics. It was written about a close friend of mine, my experience I had with that person at a party and the aftermath of the party. But really I think that’s my own personal story that I don’t really want people to think about too much when they hear the song, because I think it’s the type of song that people take into their own hearts. It seems to affect people and they have their own story or their own Laura or their own memories of being like Laura. I think there’s a universal theme about vulnerability, escapism, and the way human beings try to be dazzling and fabulous and beautiful even when they’re really hurting on the inside. We all understand that. Sometimes we want to drink and dance on the tables and escape that feeling. It’s saying sometimes the real person and their vulnerability is really beautiful, and it doesn’t have to be sparkly and perfect.
I sort of remembered an interview on the radio at some point, but I only had a vague memory of specifics.
I saw Bat For Lashes on one of their first tours, supported by a singer/songwriter called Mechanical Bride, who I must admit I was more interested in. Sadly she’s produced very little over the years, which is a shame, two albums and a couple of singles I think.
Wow - awesome responses thankyou! I have a subscription to Roon and was hoping it might throw up something like this but it didn't.
<thanks ‘haven’t listened to it for yonks 🙂 >
For me this is in the pot of music I've missed the last ten years because I was unable to have music in my life and which I am only just now discovering.
Other equally remarkable (re)discoveries incldude Lamb (Fear of Fours but really everything they've done is masterful), Aldous Harding, Emiliana Torrini, Cat Le Bon, Balthazr, Go Go Penguin, The Comet is Coming, Beruit...... lord the list goes on.
But yeah, Natasha's Laura is quite special.
It was the slightly less serious Daniel that got me interested in Bat For Lashes, but yeah, Laura is a special thing too.
A big +1 for Lamb. Gorecki was our first dance song at our wedding (oddly enough didn't seem to go down that well with the guests!).
If your listen list isn't stupidly long, you might want to add Goldfrapp, Lykke Li, Little Boots, The XX, Little Dragon, Eivor to it...
For me this is in the pot of music I’ve missed the last ten years because I was unable to have music in my life
What's this intreaguing statement about? Sounds like a situation that would make a great song itself.
What’s this intreaguing statement about? Sounds like a situation that would make a great song itself.
Alas nothing more than the ubiquitous, garden variety 'difficult marriage'. There were many things that were very challenging about the 15 years we were married but perhaps the most strange was that my ex couldn't abide music, or indeed noise, of any kind. I think they suffered from a sort of sensory disorder (which interestingly has also manifest in our eldest with some very difficult consequences) which meant that what you and I might hear as music, they experienced as a crashing, sibilant cacophony.
Before we met music was a daily part of my life; I didn’t even have a TV for example but I had a pretty decent stereo and listened to music of an evening as most people would watch TV. I was able to keep up listening for a few years after we got together but the practicalities of how and when became too much so in the end I felt obliged to sell all my kit and bought another bike!
When the wheels finally came off the marriage (that IS a story worthy of a song tbh), and the separation ensured, I promised myself I would spend a decent fraction of the house equity on a new stereo. That was a year ago and since then I have spent maybe at least an hour, often longer, of my spare time in each day listening to music. And I no longer have a TV!
If your listen list isn’t stupidly long, you might want to add Goldfrapp, Lykke Li, Little Boots, The XX, Little Dragon, Eivor to it…
Goldfrap I was already familiar with but the others are great suggestions - thank you. Yes my list is long but there is always space for new music.
A big +1 for Lamb. Gorecki was our first dance song at our wedding (oddly enough didn’t seem to go down that well with the guests!).
A bold choice. Also actually worth checking out Gorecki, the composer they named it after. This is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful pieces of music, given the harrowing subject matter. I’d never listened to it before Lamb played it on 6 Music during an interview with RadMac
@ judetheobscure - that sounds really difficult situation. I suppose if there’s any consolation then it’s making up for lost time now catching up on some great music. Enjoy.
@binners I was wondering when someone would point that out. Interesting side story about the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs; I was 16 years old and hanging out with my best friend at the time in her bedroom. Of course we knew about the holocaust, who didn't (back then at least, quite unfathomably I have spoken to young adults now how have not even heard of it which is terrifying!), but I’d never really seen anything that visually and unambiguously showed the reality of what happened.
It must have been a Sunday night I was at her place as The South Bank Show came on (it was 1990) and the episode was all about Gorecki’s Symphony No.3. The show played the music with documentary footage from inside the camps; I remember my friend and I being shocked to our core. We were both sat there with this vile sick feeling in our stomachs, unable to move or speak as we saw for the first time what really happened in those camps.
@ judetheobscure – that sounds really difficult situation. I suppose if there’s any consolation then it’s making up for lost time now catching up on some great music. Enjoy.
Yes, to say the least. The lack of music, though hard, was the most benign part of the experience. if you've ever been in close contact with someone struggling with severe mental health issues you will have some insight into how difficult it can be to be the person they use as a 'punch bag' (metaphorically speaking, not literally). The hardest part of that is knowing it's not really their fault, or maybe it is. The question of to what degree we have to take responsibility for our actions comes into sharp relief.
The very best outcome though is actually that we are now in a much better place; we cooperate and collaborate around the kids. They have fixed many of their issues, as have I (though the healing has taken a while).
I first heard SoSS on radmac in the afternoon, with a full intro to its origin. It was followed and preceded by songs which were modern, awesome in their own right, but forgettable. All in it was the best 30mins of radio that has ever been broadcast in my opinion. Made you feel good for today, but also deeply aware of what has also happened in recent times.
Laura is also a decent song!
There was me thinking I was the only person choosing Lamb Gorecki as 1st song at our wedding!
There was me thinking I was the only person choosing Lamb Gorecki as 1st song at our wedding!
In any other forum you would be!
I first heard SoSS on radmac in the afternoon, with a full intro to its origin. It was followed and preceded by songs which were modern, awesome in their own right, but forgettable. All in it was the best 30mins of radio that has ever been broadcast in my opinion
Absolutely agreed. I was stuck in a stationary traffic jam on the M60 and after the explanation they played SoSS and I remember sitting there sobbing. I’ve never had a piece of music move me like that. It had a huge and lasting impact.
Who else would play something like that on a midweek afternoon?
I'm currently listening to Górecki on Spotify now, thanks to reading this. Reminds me of the utterly enthralling film 'Song of Names' with Clive Owen and Tim Roth, amongst others, that came out a few years ago - didn't seem to make much of an impact in the UK?
A big +1 for Lamb. Gorecki was our first dance song at our wedding (oddly enough didn’t seem to go down that well with the guests!).
We were too young and weak to have it as our first song, but we did get some of the verses read during the ceremony.
mattcartlidge
There was me thinking I was the only person choosing Lamb Gorecki as 1st song at our wedding!
Have to say, one my reasons for proposing it as a first dance was that I thought it would be a unique aspect of the day. Kind of disappointed that it clearly wasn't, but also heartened that it's the idiosyncratic world of STW that has stolen that uniqueness!
rossburton
We were too young and weak to have it as our first song, but we did get some of the verses read during the ceremony.
That's cool. The lyrics are beautiful in their own right. We didn't use them directly on the day but one of my wedding gifts to Zoe was a photographic artwork I made that incorporated them.
@judetheobscure Sounds like a tough gig and I good to know that you've both (all) come out of it generally OK. I think some of us underestimate the importance of music (and all art) to a healthy life. I don't listen to nearly as much music as I used to (late teens, early twenties I was like you and would rather listen to music than watch TV) and it's something I feel bad about. Today, I was doing a menial task - scanning fifty or so family photos - in the (home) office and as my turntable is in there threw a few albums on while I was doing it. It was an absolute delight and I really should make the conscious effort to do it more often.