Seattle singer/songwriter
Laura Veirs sings personal songs of romantic intoxication, everyday vignettes, and occasional social commentary that are often heavy on introspection and intense character scrutiny. Her vocals and melodies rapidly shift and veer, true to her name, up and down her wide vocal range. She put out her own self-titled CD, recorded live and featuring just her and guitar, in 1999. Though she went to the studio for her next album,
The Triumphs & Travails of Orphan Mae, it too was self-released (though it saw greater distribution after British label Bella Union decided to reissue it in 2005). 2003 brought the release of
Troubled by the Fire, a full-band effort that found the artist sharing the studio with such luminaries as
Bill Frisell,
Amy Denio, and
Fred Chalenor. She signed to Nonesuch the following year and recorded the atmospheric
Carbon Glacier, followed by
Year of Meteors in August of 2005 and
Saltbreakers in 2007. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide