Laura Veirs – Troubled By The Fire

Laura Veirs takes all of 12 seconds to get under your skin and no more than 44 minutes — the running time of her seductive third album Troubled By The Fire — to give you the feeling she’s one of the most distinctive young artists you’ve heard in quite a while. A 29-year-old Colorado native now based in Seattle, she eludes easy categorizations with her plaintively delivered, folk-based meditations, which with their varied sonic landscapes occupy a cozy place somewhere between waking and dreaming.

Veirs’ songs, which tap some of the same quiltwork Americana as fellow Seattle transplant Robin Holcomb, range from the wistful “Song My Friends Taught Me” to the defiant “Cannon Fodder”, the nostalgia-laced “Ohio Clouds” to the mystical “Devil’s Hootenanny”. The lyrics are alive with poetic detail — “bear cat trail and steel rail,” “breeze blowing through the door,” “waves on the shore making a sound oh then silent.” Blessed with understated contributions from Bill Frisell on guitar, Danny Barnes on banjo, Eyvind Kang on viola, and Amy Denio on clarinet and saxophone — plus Steve Moore of her working band, the Tortured Souls, who provides religious undertones and overtones on pump organ and celeste — Veirs makes her subtle shifts in tone sound easy.

The album was produced by Tortured Souls drummer and electronics maven Tucker Martine, who has drawn acclaim for his work with artists ranging from slide guitarist Kelly Joe Phelps to modern jazz veterans Sam Rivers and Julian Priester. Never mind that Veirs recorded two previous albums, both of which she released herself; for those who are new to her, Troubled By The Fire may well be the debut of the year.