London’s Laura Moody doesn’t just sing, she howls, she emotes, she enunciates; she doesn’t just play, she strikes her cello with her bow as she punctuates each full stop. Each one of her compositions is driven by her brutal cello wielding and eccentric delivery. With onomatopoeic stutters and gasps, cello string plucks and a section of yodelling to her gallery, Laura weaves vivid, literate stories, her music a brewing storm possessing elements of Italian opera, avant-garde, classical and neo-folk but sounds like none of these, really. Her songs hover like dark foreboding clouds above the head, creating unbearable – and at times uncomfortable – tension before unleashing theatrical expulsions like showers of rain. You could reference the melodrama of Kate Bush or the eccentricity and instrumentalism of Joanna Newsome, but to use such crude comparisons is to divest just how unique her performances truly are.
“Laura is a long-standing member of the Elysian Quartet, known for their pioneering performances and experimental recordings of contemporary classical, and has toured extensively as a member of physical theatre string ensemble The Gogmagogs and the Meredith Monk Ensemble. Artists she has worked and performed with include Aphex Twin, Antony and the Johnsons, David Sylvian, Kate Tempest, Hot Chip, The xx, Anna Calvi, and Imogen Heap.”
Laura’s debut album “Acrobats” was released at the end of last year, sample the quite entrancingly eccentric live video for ‘Turn Away’ here:
Laura Moody ‘Turn Away’ from MCR Scenewipe on Vimeo.
Laura Moody dates:
Thurs 21st May – Lau at Union Chapel – As part of the Elysian Quartet
Fri 22nd May – Supporting Mara Carlisle at Rich Mix, London
Sun 31st May – Brighton Festival special guest at “The Last Hurrah,” Spiegal Tent Brighton
Further dates
June 7th – Full set Spitalfields Music Summer Festival
July/Aug – touring with Bjork as part of Heritage Orchestra
Aug 9th – Wilderness Festival (Sunday)
Sept 12th – Doubledotbash Festival
Sept 13th – Bestival (Sunday)
Laura Moody – http://www.lauramoodymusic.com/
