Known for her emotionally barbed storytelling, stripped-down delivery, and orchestral mix of indie folk, indie rock, punk rock, twee pop & alt-country, Stevenson was born and raised in Long Island into a family of mariners and musicians. She spent many of her younger days on the sugar barges of NY harbor with her father and uncles, who all made their living on the water, at one time running one of the largest fleets on the Hudson. Meanwhile, her mother’s parents were successful musicians; Harry Simeone, the composer and choral arranger responsible for such works as “The Little Drummer Boy” and “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and Margaret McCravy (stage name McCrae), a singer from South Carolina who got her start accompanying her elder siblings “The McCravy Brothers,” a harmonious gospel folk duo, before continuing on her own to record and tour with bandleader Benny Goodman. Armed with her grandfather’s love for modernist dissonance, a genetic predisposition for harmony, and with her sea legs firmly planted in the traditions of American folk singing, Stevenson began creating melodies at a very young age. “My mom would find me in my room, looking out the window, out at the street, singing by myself, sometimes crying,” she laughs, “I was a weird kid.”
At around five Stevenson began playing piano by ear, and at that point her mother decided lessons were a sound investment for the young musician. In High School between going to punk shows every weekend, she spent her afternoons singing in four different choral groups, exploring a growing love for acapella. “Big time nerd stuff,” as she recalls, lamenting that there wasn’t a show like Glee around to validate her when she was in the thick of it. Hundreds of hours of extra-curricular singing combined with a natural talent has no doubt paid dividends when it comes to Stevenson’s powerful vocals. The confidence and precision with which she unabashedly sings out on record and on stage stands in sharp contrast with the reflective uncertainty and isolation that comes through in her lyrics.
Though Stevenson began writing classically on piano early on, it wasn’t until her late teens that she taught herself how to fingerpick the guitar, aspiring to have the quickness and intricacy of her “guitar god,” Dolly Parton. The new instrument opened up a window of creativity and Stevenson soon began writing songs heavily influenced by the writers her father had raised her on, such as Neil Young, Gram Parsons, and Carole King, while also drawing inspiration from music that she discovered on her own like Leonard Cohen, and Jeff Mangum. Meanwhile, leaving her comfort zone, Stevenson started playing in friends’ bands in and around Long Island, a time that she says, “taught me how to be on tour, how to give and take with other musicians, and not be afraid of my own ideas.” With a new found confidence and a solid and supportive community of creative people behind her, Stevenson moved to Brooklyn in her early 20s and soon started performing her own material, loosely assembling a backing band of friends from other projects. In 2010, she released her bare-bones full-length debut simply entitled, A Record, which she quickly followed the year after with Sit Resist, the first solid document of her work playing with a full band. Those two albums and a healthy amount of touring brought Stevenson a dedicated fan base, drawn to her voice, her words, and her relatable down-to-earth persona.
While writing the 13 songs that make-up her newest record, Wheel, Stevenson sought to understand her place within the frame of time, nature, and among those that she loves. With her words, a careful twine of prose and humor, Stevenson manages to expose the nagging contradictions that make life so terrifying but also so worth living, how it is possible to simultaneously feel both fear and joy, the bitter aftertaste of something so beautiful it makes you sick. Themes of passage, the cycle of the moon, the seasons, and love’s ever-shifting states of dependence, are all interwoven throughout Wheel as songs ebb and flow from her band’s crashing walls of distortion and pounding drums, to sweet string-led overtures, to moments where it is just Stevenson and a guitar.
In recording Wheel, Stevenson decided to up the production value, steering away from the lo-fi approach of her previous two albums. Forcing herself to fully give-in to the recording process, and relinquish some of creative control she enlisted producer, Kevin McMahon, someone whose work she respected immensely and who would, as she put it, “be the perfect set of ears for these songs.” She also brought in Rob Moose on violin and Kelly Pratt to play brass, adding their own layers of depth to the band’s full arrangements. Despite the move to sleeker production, Wheel retains its organic nature, relying primarily on the resonance of acoustic instruments and the electricity of simply over-driven amplifiers, with its most synthetic moment coming from a Roland organ, an unconscious decision that Stevenson explains as her and her band’s way of “being real, relying on each other’s energy to keep time and just playing the songs like human beings, flaws and all.”
Sites: MySpace and LauraStevenson.net (official)
[[b]2] From Belfast, UK.
Raised only a few streets from the legendary Van Morrison (though admittedly several decades later), Laura Stevenson is finally receiving recognition in the Northern Irish music scene. Her 2004 EP “Down” and this year’s “Live at the Rotterdam” have already been heard on the airwaves of several local stations and, having recently won a showcase on the music investment website ‘Slicethepie.com’ which secured her £15,000 to record her long-awaited debut album, it looks like Laura is set to grace more than just the local scene with her talent.
At the centre of the music is her voice - fragile, ethereal, haunting - providing an apt vehicle for songs which betray a rare kind of honesty. Stevenson doesn't shy away from wearing her heart on her sleeve in her songwriting, something fans tell her they appreciate. At times, her songs are lyrically raw and yet, so carefully framed with those trademark cascading piano lines, the listener is drawn into a space where catharsis and redemption finally meet. Indeed, one can never be sure if this music will break your heart, or if it will heal it.
Stevenson has an impressive range of influences including the likes of Tracy Chapman, Sarah McLachlan, Patty Griffin, Suzanne Vega and Sheryl Crow, but comparisons reveal little about her unique direction. Live sets include impressively original interpretations of songs by artists she admires: Radiohead, Chris Isaak, Crowded House and Alana Myles, amongst several others. She has supported many artists of varying success on the Irish music scene (such as Juliet Turner), as well as those of international acclaim, such as guitar legends Rodrigo y Gabriela and soul diva, Beverley Knight.
This summer, Laura will continue to play local venues to her ever-widening fan base, while she hits the studio with local producer Mike Houston, whom she describes as “The Northern Irish music industry’s best kept secret…”, to finally get recording! While no date for release has been announced yet, we anticipate it won’t be too much longer before you’re hearing a lot, lot more from this talented lady…
Songs by this Laura featured on lastfm: Down, Just Beyond My Reach, Welcome to my World, Coming Home, Short Space of Time, One of Us, Wait, Solar System, Shallow, One Night Stand, Where You Lie, Cut and Run.
Sites: MySpace
Triangle
laura stevenson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Standing on the other side of a locked door in a big, big fire
There comes a time when you decide if you fight it off or learn to die, I'm fine
This city curls itself around me
It pries apart so it can see what you and I have taken
But it hasn't taken anything, anything
If it's white and it's piled high enough so I can float like smoking paper
You can stay, or you can breathe, two or three until you make it to the street
You can wait and you can scream but that won't keep you from burning, burning, burning
I wouldn't mind if you left me here burning
The lyrics of Laura Stevenson's song "Triangle" express a sense of despair and desire for escape. The opening line "I wouldn't mind if you left me here" sets the tone for the rest of the song, as the singer seems resigned to their fate. The image of standing on the other side of a locked door in a big, big fire creates a feeling of being trapped and hopeless. The next line, "There comes a time when you decide if you fight it off or learn to die, I'm fine" suggests that the singer has made their decision, and that they are prepared to accept whatever comes next.
The second verse describes the city, which "curls itself around" the singer. This image suggests a feeling of suffocation or entrapment, as if the city is closing in on them. The singer notes that the city hasn't taken anything from them, implying that they still have some sense of agency or control over their own life.
The final verse returns to the theme of escape, with the singer expressing a desire to "hide out away from you." The image of floating on "white" (perhaps referencing drugs or alcohol) suggests a desire to disconnect from reality. The line "You can wait and you can scream but that won't keep you from burning, burning, burning" is a stark reminder of the ultimate fate that awaits us all. The singer seems to be resigned to their own death, and is willing to let go of whoever or whatever is holding them back.
Overall, "Triangle" is a powerful and poignant song that explores themes of despair, escape, and mortality. The lyrics are open to interpretation and can be read as an expression of the singer's own feelings or as a commentary on larger societal issues.
Line by Line Meaning
I wouldn't mind if you left me here
I don't care if you abandon me in this precarious position
Standing on the other side of a locked door in a big, big fire
Trapped in a huge fire on the other side of a locked door
There comes a time when you decide if you fight it off or learn to die, I'm fine
There's a point where you must choose between fighting or accepting death, and I'm okay with either
This city curls itself around me
The city is enveloping me
It pries apart so it can see what you and I have taken
It tries to uncover what we have stolen
But it hasn't taken anything, anything
But it hasn't actually taken anything from us
I couldn't lie if I wanted to cause I all want to do is hide out away from you
I cannot tell a lie about my desire to escape from you
If it's white and it's piled high enough so I can float like smoking paper
If there's a large enough pile of white substance, I can float on it like ash
You can stay, or you can breathe, two or three until you make it to the street
You can try to survive the fire by staying or breathing smoke until you escape to the street
You can wait and you can scream but that won't keep you from burning, burning, burning
You can wait and cry out, but that won't prevent you from being consumed by the flames
I wouldn't mind if you left me here burning
I don't mind if I perish in this fire
Writer(s): STEVENSON LAURA ANNE
Contributed by Dominic E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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