HOT off the back of her brilliant – nay, jawdropping – debut single, “Bone Of Contention”, London singer, songwriter and psychotherapist Laura Fell today releases “Cold”, yet another slice of intelligent acoustic songsmithery – with that voice.
If you didn’t catch up with “Bone Of Contention”, follow through on the link above; prepare to swoon for it; and “Cold”, for which you’ll find an embed below.
Incredibly, Laura only entered the world of music aged 25, at a point where her poetry began to take a natural steer towards lyricism.
“Cold”, says Laura, is a study in the fears that come with entering a relationship. And the music paints a starker, eerier picture than the deep lushness of “Bone Of Contention”: skeletal, yawing jazz a la Tom Waits, all stark polyrhythms and wood blocks, punctuate Laura’s deep, genuinely dulcet, contralto.
It really is one of the voices, a stop-you-dead one; there’s other singers sailing in waters nearby – Karen Dalton, Nina Simone; but no one I can call to mind with such a rich, chocolate-smooth timbre.
“Cold” is deeply confessional, as you may expect from a professional in the all the ways we need to be clearer to ourselves about ourselves: “I can’t find the answers for myself / it’s easier to help somebody else”, she sings, resolving: “Be kind to me.”
Laura says: “[It’s] about the vulnerability of entering into a new relationship – wanting to open yourself fully, but fearful of doing this too soon – and essentially asking someone not to reject or judge you when you show them the messier parts of yourself.”
Both “Cold” and its predecessor are tasters for her debut album Safe From Me, which is due for release on November 20th via Balloon Machine Records. It’s a singular and wholly realised personal vision; Laura held down three jobs to fund its recording, assembling a classically trained ensemble to paint the colours her acoustic demos suggested.
The album features personal tales such as “Glad”, a song of positivity for her recently divorced parents, wishing them well; while the title track finds her grieving a loss of self in a previous relationship.
We will, of course, be reviewing the album in the middle of that month; meanwhile, you can follow Laura on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Oh – and enjoying the brace of songs she’s graced us with already.
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