Laura James is a Cumbrian-born singer-songwriter now based in East London. She is set to release her new single, Rooftops, on 20th Feb 2017. Rooftops is accompanied by a music video produced by Pace Productions (watch above).
Rooftops is described by Laura as a “lament to Liverpool” having recently braved the move to London. On the subject of the musical influences on the track, Laura states “I was definitely listening to a lot of Anais Mitchell and Elliott Smith when I wrote and recorded Rooftops, particularly Anais’ Young Man In America which was produced by Todd Sickafoose, who’s a bit of a genius”. As to what new artists impress her Laura says “I’m really enjoying Aurora at the moment, she’s such an interesting new artist. I’m a big fan of Lucy Rose’s stuff and I’ve been listening to a lot of Alice Boman lately, I love her song Waiting, it’s really raw and beautiful”.
The video for Rooftops explores a concept centred on an apocalyptic walk through rural Northeast Scotland. Laura explains that “the video has a theme of mementoes and totems, I asked my friends to give me little items that are important to them and I placed them throughout. The main totem is a boat which was given to me when I was about 14 by one of the first people I ever started a band with – she passed away when we were really young and I still carry the boat with me”. This sense of tragedy and loss is certainly reflected by the sweeping melancholia of the landscape, and Laura’s act of casting herself into the freezing loch, letting the cold water wash away her sorrow.
Rooftops was recorded with One Bit Productions in Buckland, and was mixed in Brakeline Studios, Liverpool by Alec Brits. Based in Liverpool from 2009-2015, Laura appeared at local and national festivals including Liverpool Sound City, Great Escape Festival, Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Kendal Calling, A Carefully Planned Festival, Solfest and Ireby as well as international festivals such as DBMC in Delaware, USA. In 2012 Laura was awarded the Help for Musicians (MBF) Songwriting Development prize. She then went on to release her first single The Water in 2013 followed by her second EP and her third release Every Little Amber in 2014 for which Laura worked with Brooklyn-based collective Mason Jar Music (Punch Brothers/Andrew Bird/Feist/Rosanne Cash). Laura’s releases have had extensive radio play including features from Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music’s Tom Robinson, BBC Radio Cumbria, BBC Radio Lancashire and BBC Radio Merseyside.
“Rooftops feels like the start of a really exciting adventure for me, I’m so thrilled to be sharing it with the world, and to be performing much more around the UK in 2017.”
Find out more here: www.laurajamesmusic.co.uk