Product Description

With her band The Tortured Souls, singer/songwriter/guitar player Laura Veirs recorded her new record, Year of Meteors, in Seattle in February of this year. She calls the album "a road record", drawing inspiration from being in constant motion for much of 2004, touring in support of the critically acclaimed Carbon Glacier.

Produced by Tortured Soul band member, Tucker Martine, Year of Meteors' lyrics include dream-like images of sky and sea, punctuated by guitar bursts, handclaps and melodic keyboards and strings. In addition to Martine’s percussion and "beats" the album features Steve Moore (piano, organs), Karl Blau (bass, guitar, vocals), and Eyvind Kang (viola).

"When we talked about making the album, we decided to record a lot of these songs as a band first, then do some more of the solo type of songs", Veirs said. "It had always been the opposite before, I would go in and record the more quiet guitar parts and sing. This time, half of the record or more are tracks that we did live as a band first. Then we went in and recorded the quieter ones. We approached this from the beginning more as a band album and it really turned out that way".

Track Listing

1. Fire Snakes
2. Galaxies
3. Secret Someones
4. Magnetized
5. Parisian Painter
6. Rialto
7. Through The Glow
8. Cool Water
9. Spelunking
10. Black Gold Blues
11. Where Gravity Is Dead
12. Lake Swimming

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4975 in Music
• Released on: 2005-08-29
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

CD Description
'Year Of Meteors' is the fifth album by Seattle-based singer-songwriter Laura Veirs. Combining sensitive folk-rock withpastoral pop, 'Year Of Meteors' is Veirs' first album sinceher departure from the Bella Union label. Includes the single 'Galaxies'.

Customer Reviews

Album Of The Year?
Year Of Meteors is the 4th Album by Laura Veirs and astonishingly it betters the previous ones (believe me this is quite a feat as the other LPs are brilliant,especially Carbon Glaciers)and,frankly you know the world has gone mad when people like Laura Veirs and Martha Wainwright sell hardly anything but the insipid likes of Katie Melua and Norah Jones go multi-platinum.This is definitely a contender for album of 2005 in my book...

Set to become a classic (I hope)
I have only owned this album for less than 48 hours but already it's become a favourite. I had only heard 1 song by Laura Veirs and bought this on the strength of it. Now i'm going to buy her other albums as soon as I finish writing this.

From the opening track "Fire Snakes" you know you're in for a treat. This really sets up the scene for the whole album. The simple acoustic guitar is later joined by strings sections, accordion and moog flourishes and all are performed with real flair. None of the songs seem overcrowded despite being quite complicated in parts. In fact the songs sound deceptively simple.

The only way to desribe the music is a cross between Nick Drake and KT Tunstall, but that would be incredibly misleading and wouldn't do her justice.

She has a relaxed and freeflowing style completely all of her own. Sometimes verging on the melancholy, sometimes on the quirky, sometimes on the inspirational but always simple, fresh and straight forward songwriting. She always sounds like she is singing from her heart.

Black Gold Blues, however stands out as a totally different affair and verges on being all out rock, although the strings section and layered vocals still give the song the Laura Veirs seal of approval.

A personal favourite is Galaxies, and sounds to me as a prime candidate for being released as a single. If i'd done my research I might have been able to tell you, but where's the fun in that? Off you pop to Google.

Another good song (well they all are) is Magnetized. Her voice, an acoustic guitar, piano, accordion and a theremin, give it a quirky but ethereal sound.

It's an album that can easily deserve your undivided attention, yet has simple melodies that can be enjoyed in the background too.

Buy this album, we need more music like this.

In a word - Brilliant
Apparently only recorded in February of this year Laura Veirs’ follow up to the acclaimed Carbon Glacier is a quirky little gem of an album. Those quick to dismiss her as a ‘folkie singer/songwriter’ might well want to eat their words, especially with Ms Orton disappearing under coffee table mediocrity.

Veirs’ album is full of heartfelt song writing and although some of the wistful romance is a little ponderous, her voice recalls a softer Amiee Mann at times.

Critics are keen to pigeon hole her as a geeky alternative to Katie Melua or Norah Jones (she wears glasses wouldn’t you know), but it must be said that the tunes and the level of production on display here far outweigh either of her so called contemporaries. Piano, violin, viola, keyboards, cello, handclaps, they all feature here especially on merry stand out tracks such as Fire Snakes, Galaxies and Through the Water.

It may be very early to announce a potential Album of The Year, but Veirs (and her band The Tortured Souls) have stood themselves in good stead.