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The Wire, Feb 07: 60 concerts (of all time) that shook the world: "The best set came from Lau Nau, the trio led by Laura Naukkarinen. Visibly pregnant, Naukkarinen gently strummed and bowed her stringed tools with soft precision, like a snake shedding its skin. Her spiralling songs were the most enchanting parts of an evening full of indoor campfires. Together, she and her Finnish comrades flipped the concept of the house show on its head, making a cosy indoor nook feel like the great outdoors." (-Marc Masters about the show in Philadelphia, 2005) Lau Nau is free spirited Finnish artist Laura Naukkarinen. Since the release of her celebrated debut full length Kuutarha on Chicago’s Locust Music in 2005, Lau Nau has enjoyed considerable recognition for her intimate & playful blend of ethnic tinged folk songs with curious & intuitive sounds conjured from familiar and exotic sound sources. Kuutarha made many year end best of lists and achieved recognition as an “important record” (Dusted), a “tremendously powerful statement” (Brainwashed) that “begs to become many a listener’s point of fixation, source of meditation and object of adoration" (lost at sea). In their 8.0 review, Pitchfork praised lau nau’s unique combination of edginess and warmth on Kuutarha: “(Lau Nau) manages to take a million-and-one risks while keeping things subtle, understated, aesthetically intriguing and emotionally resonant". Stop Smiling magazine praised the album for its ”natural beauty, isolation and mystery” and the Chicago Reader called the album “diverse and exotic, with a dying-campfire vibe” echoing a generally held sentiment among critics and fans alike that with Kuutarha, Lau Nau had tapped into something uniquely foreign yet emotionally rich, vital and rewarding. In May 2008, Lau Nau’s long awaited follow up, Nukkuu, sees release on Locust. A part of a continuum of sorts, Nukkuu, travels the outer pathways of sound similar to those heard on Kuutarha yet Nukkuu is unavoidably enriched by Lau Nau’s own life changes in the years between the two records. Naukkarinen became a mother and moved her family to Finland’s remote countryside and with new distance and new devotion in life, her musical world underwent its own subtle shifts. The beauty, mystery and daring of her debut are traits that run through the main veins of Nukkuu but there is an almost unavoidable sense of contentedness amidst the tide of musical abstraction that brings the listener one step closer to her interior sound world. As a live performer, Lau Nau has enjoyed opportunities to perform in a wide array of venues from small informal spots like Massachusetts’s Montague Bookmill & Westers Gallery on Kemiö Island, Finland to larger spaces like Stockholm’s Kulturhuset, New York’s Anthology Film Archives, the Contemporary Art Centers in Glasgow, Brussels & Castelló and the Avanto festival in Helsinki. In recent years, her rare and special live shows have earned her a special place among a legion of fans. This was further cemented when a Lau Nau performance during her 2005 North American tour was counted among The Wire magazine’s “60 Concerts that shook the world” in its February, 2007 issue. Naukkarinen has been an active presence in the Finnish underground for the last decade playing in groups like Kiila, Hertta Lussu Ässä, Päivänsäde, Avarus and the Anaksimandros, organizing concerts, publishing a magazine and running a handful of small labels starting with POK and , more recently, the Peippo label. Her musical activities spread far beyond her recorded work and permeate almost every aspect of her private and public life from her participation in multimedia events to her workshops teaching music to young children throughout Europe. Over the past five years, Lau Nau has participated in several spontaneously improvised live film scores to classic avant-garde films including Vertov’s Man With a Movie Camera, Christensen’s Haxan and Dreyer’s La Passion de Joan d’Arc for the Turku Film Archive, Anthology Film Archives (New York) and Bio Rex (Helsinki) and Tromso Stumfilmdager (Norway). In 2007, the improvised score for Haxan was used as the accompanying soundtrack to the Swedish Film Institute’s DVD release of this legendary film. Her music was used in a prestigious Magnum Photo essay "No Whisper, No Sigh" alongside fellow Finnish musicians Islaja, Kuupuu and avant-garde legend John Cage in 2006. In 2008/2009, her music will appear as the backdrop to an exhibition by Japanese photographer Moriyama Daido. Lau Nau lives with her partner, Antti Tolvi, and their young son Nuutti in the remote countryside on Kemiö island. For record label web site, look at http://locustmusic.com/launau.html Discography:
On compilations:
Some more of my bands and visits on other records: Roope and the Rockets: Can you drive a motor-car?, 7" (Monorail 1998)Kemialliset Ystävät, CD-R (Huutomerkki 1998) Chamellows, split 7" w/Kiila, (Fonal 1999) Kemialliset Ystävät, split LP w/Echo is your love (If Society 1999) The Anaksimandros: Camels Running through Life, MC (Lal Lal Lal, 2000) Master QSH, MC (Lal Lal Lal 2003) Avarus: Jänis vaahteran hännänkieliset seikkailut, 7", (Audiobot 2004) Kiila: Silmät Sulkaset, CD (Fonal & K-raak3 2004) Päivänsäde, 2xMC (POK 2004) Päivänsäde, Tamminauhat/Tulipesä-Tapes, CD-R (Whistle Along 2004) Päivänsäde: Puhalluspelto, LP (Eclipse 2004) Maniacs Dream, split 7" w/Munuaissymposium 1960 (Lal Lal Lal 2004) Kemialliset Ystävät: NUUHA NI HAKA (Jewelled Antler Library, 2004) Maniacs Dream: Die Learn No Way, LP (HP Cycle 2005) Taikuri Tali US Tour CD-R (POK 2005) Hertta Lussu Ässä: US Tour CD-R, (2005) Lauhkeat Lampaat: Mystery of Hyyry, MC (POK 2005) Es: Sateenkaarisuudelma, LP (K-raak3 2005) Lauhkeat Lampaat: The most pöllö, LP (QBICO 2006) Chamellows: Rat Hearts, CD (Fonal 2006) Kemialliset Ystävät: -, CD (Fonal 2007) QBICO V UNITE - Kuupuu & Lau Nau with Lauhkeat Lampaat, LP (QBICO 2007) Miscellaneous: A box of six Swedish silent film classics released by Svensk Filmindustri / Svenska Filminstitutet. The DVD's musical scores are made by Matti Bye with different collaborators and in the movie "Häxan" the music is improvised by Lau Nau, Matti Bye, Kristian Holmgren and Lotta Johansson. Live music by Päivänsäde for Dziga Vertov's film "Man with a Movie Camera", Turku Film Archive, 2004 Live music (by a collective of Lau Nau, Islaja, Kuupuu, Antti Tolvi, Tomutonttu and Sala-arhimo) for short films and projections, Anthology Film Archive, New York, September 2006 Live music by Lau Nau & Vinter for Benjamin Christensen's film "Häxan" ("Witchcraft through the ages"), Bio Rex (Sodankylä Film Festival Club), Helsinki, Finland, May 2007 Live music by Lau Nau, Matti Bye and Kristian Holmgren for Carl Dreyer's film "En kvinnans martyrium" ("La Passion de Joan d'Arc"), Tromso Stumfilmdagar, Norway, September 2007 "No Whisper, No Sigh" -A photograph Essay by Magnum Photo, music by Lau Nau, Islaja, Kuupuu, Antti Tolvi and Sala-Arhimo, 2006 http://todayspictures.slate.com/20060807/ click the Essay "No Whisper, No Sigh". A photograph essay by Magnum Photo with music of Lau Nau, Islaja and John Cage: http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essays/color.aspx Sound art workshops for children at festivals and kindergartens abroad Article: http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=10044 Interview: http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd/features.php?which=19 Some reviews of the album Kuutarha: http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd/reviews.php?which=230 http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/19594-kuutarha Check out these pages too: http://www.myspace.com/launau http://www.kiila.com http://myspace.com/herttalussuassa http://www.peippo.org http://www.locustmusic.com http://www.fonal.com |
