The whole evening focuses entirely on Lau with no support – their first set sees them perform music from their 5 previous albums while the second set will be a complete performance of their current album. The tour so far has been spectacular and mesmerising, characterised by their innovative stage set with lighting, projections and electronic effects featuring MORAG, a Lau invention and “semi-sentient self-organising sonic system”!
Lau have been four time winners of the ʻBest Groupʼ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, as well as a host of individual awards. Named after an Orcadian word meaning "natural light", Lau formed in 2005 and is composed of Kris Drever, Martin Green and Aidan O'Rourke. ’Midnight and Closedown’ was launched to much acclaim in February 2019, with increasingly stripped-back instrumental arrangements and exploratory song forms, the album deals with timely themes of isolation, togetherness and forgiveness.
This is music in evolution – tempo and dynamics are in constant motion, in a state of flux that’s paused and re-started like a tape machine. Melody, poetry, emotion and memory weave in and out like stories. Midnight And Closedown is the next chapter in Lau’s fascinating story. As ever from Lau, it’s a unique and exceptional album.
Album of the Month (FolkRadioUK)
‘It’s a brooding, menacing album in places – Drever, Green and O’Rourke give vent to their view on Brexit and the isolationist fears that raises, fiercely accomplished and inventive’ (Daily Express)
‘Lau are finding bold new ways to create. The songs posit big questions, albeit obliquely, about Scotland as a nation state, Britain as an island, about communities in remote places, people living in bubbles – a keening lament for our times’ (The Herald)
‘Lau. Cool Band. Don’t sound like anybody else…’ (John Parish)
‘For alternative music lovers as much as folk fans, brimming over with intoxicating, mesmerising music’ (BBC Music)
Tickets are available in person from Mareel, by phone on 01595 745500, or online at www.shetlandarts.org
