Veirs was raised in Colorado, studied geology and Mandarin Chinese at Carleton College, worked as a translator for a geological expedition in China, and now lives in Portland, Oregon. Veirs has said that she didn't seriously listen to music until she was in her 20s; instead, she just heard what was in her environment. She listened to folk / country / classical / pop, around the house & on the radio, during her youth.
Attending Carleton College in rural Minnesota, Veirs latched onto feminist punk rock from the Pacific Northwest, eventually starting an all-female punk band called "Rair Kx!". Veirs studied geology and Mandarin Chinese. After college, she embraced older country and folk music. Her first foray into songwriting started with a geological expedition in China, where she served as translator. She was miserable and immersed herself into writing lyrics as a way of coping.
She put out her own self-titled album Laura Veirs, recorded live and featuring just her and guitar, in 1999. She has since made five highly acclaimed records with producer Tucker Martine. 2003 saw the release of Troubled by the Fire, a full-band effort that found the artist sharing the studio with such luminaries as Bill Frisell and violist Eyvind Kang. She signed to Nonesuch Records the following year with the atmospheric follow-up Carbon Glacier. Year of Meteors followed in August of 2005. She collaborated with The Decemberists on "Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)", from their 2006 album The Crane Wife. Her sixth record, Saltbreakers, was released worldwide on Nonesuch Records in April 2007. Her seventh album July Flame was released in January 2010.
In November 2011, Veirs released the album Tumble Bee: Laura Veirs Sings Folk Songs For Children. The album presents mostly traditional songs, and features an array of guest musicians, including Colin Meloy, Jim James, and Bela Fleck. The album won a Parents' Choice Award in 2012.
In September 2012 her first feature film soundtrack was released: Hello I Must Be Going.
Veirs tours frequently in Europe, the US and Australia both solo and with her backing band Saltbreakers, consisting of Karl Blau on bass, guitar, and backing vocals, keyboardist Steve Moore, and Tucker Martine on drums.
Magnetized
Laura Veirs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I was slain by your olivine eyes,
Slain, I was lying in piles, hoping shovels would cast me in.
Furnaces burn everlasting, black tattoos of you on to me.Furnaces burn everlasting, black tattoos.
Burn, brand my memory, black tattoo of you.
Wash me with your mouth, blackish bright water from your eyes
Homing pigeons fly to hover by.
Spill my ashes to the wind.
Ghosts gather what they found (ghosts will gather what they found)
Now we can strugle in the web
We can struggle
With white spider stars come down.
And night blowing black from the ground.
Laura Veirs's song "Magnetized" is a melancholic love song that describes how powerful and overwhelming feelings of love can be, and the traces they leave even after the love fades. The lyrics are written in the past tense, which indicates that the singer of the song is reflecting on a previous romantic relationship. The singer uses vivid imagery to describe the intensity of the love they felt for their partner, as well as the sadness and longing they experience after the relationship ends.
In the first verse, the singer describes how their partner's smile and eyes "slain" (overwhelmed) them. The use of mineral names such as zirconium and olivine adds a scientific and objective tone to the description of the lover's physical features. However, the use of the word "piles" to describe the singer's emotional state conveys a sense of disorientation and confusion caused by the overpowering effect of the lover's beauty.
The second verse talks about the lasting impression the lover left on the singer. The image of the "furnaces burn[ing] everlasting" is a metaphor for the intensity of the singer's emotions, which are compared to "black tattoos" that have been permanently etched onto their skin. The use of the verb "brand" to describe the process of memory-making reinforces this metaphor. In the following lines, the singer expresses a desire to be close to their former lover once again, to "wash" themselves in their memory.
The third and final verse has a surreal and dreamlike quality to it. The image of homing pigeons flying to the lover's window is both literal and metaphorical, suggesting a sense of longing and a desire for a return to a place of safety and comfort. The image of spilling ashes to the wind and ghosts gathering what they found is a representation of letting go of the past and moving forward into an uncertain future. The final line is enigmatic and open to interpretation, suggesting that the night can have both negative and positive aspects, just like love.
Line by Line Meaning
Slain, by your zirconium smile
I was overwhelmed and defeated by the beauty of your bright, sparkling smile like that of zirconium
Slain, I was lying in piles, hoping shovels would cast me in.
I was so captivated by you that I felt like I was lying in heaps of something, eagerly waiting to be buried in the ground by shovels
Furnaces burn everlasting, black tattoos of you on to me.Furnaces burn everlasting, black tattoos.
My longing for you is so strong that it feels like the image of you is being imprinted on me forever, like an eternal, dark tattoo
Burn, brand my memory, black tattoo of you.
I want my memory of you to be so strong that it feels like a permanent, dark tattoo burned into my mind
Wash me with your mouth, blackish bright water from your eyes
I want to be cleansed and healed by your love, like being washed with black, bright water flowing through your mouth and eyes
Homing pigeons fly to hover by your window white and shy.
I am drawn to you like homing pigeons flying shyly to hover near your window, in awe of your beauty
Spill my ashes to the wind.
I am willing to let go of everything for you, even my own ashes scattered to the wind after death
Ghosts gather what they found (ghosts will gather what they found)
Even after I am gone, my presence will linger on, like ghosts that gather what they have found and remain behind
Now we can strugle in the web
We can now face the challenges of life, struggling together within the intricate, interconnected web of our relationship
With white spider stars come down.
We can be guided by bright and pure celestial bodies, like white stars shaped like spiders coming down from the sky
And night blowing black from the ground.
Even in the darkest of times, we can draw strength from the ground beneath us, like night blowing out darkness to reveal hidden beauty
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: LAURA VEIRS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind