Laura Veirs

AMG Review of Laura Veirs

Richie Unterberger
All Music Guide

Only Veirs and a guitar are heard on this self-released CD, which makes it sound something like what you might hear at a coffee house, although the song structures and vocal delivery owe more to singer/songwriter rock than to folk music. It was recorded and mixed live, which gives it the sense of being a high-quality demo. Veirs sings in edgy cadences and angular melodies, with a somewhat breathless sense of squeezing in more words and syllables per phrase than most songwriters do. The phrasing is urgent and bold, and her vocal range sweeps quickly to the upper range and back again. The songs are verbose and somewhat unusual as such performers go, sometimes suggesting a matter-of-fact bisexuality, and building a song's lyrics around a visit "Outside Bud's Jazz Records" (a long-established store in Seattle). The blatant disgust with the American military-industrial complex on "American Way," though, is more fun to agree with than to listen to, as is sometimes the case with agit-proppish tunes. It's acceptable singer/songwriter music, but not possessed of arresting tunes or viewpoints.