Lau are one of the UK’s premier folk acts, bringing traditional Scottish folk music to new audiences in a way that feels simultaneously both modern and timeless. Their work has won accolades everywhere. The band has won BBC Folk Act of The Year in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, and their albums such as Lightweights and Gentlemen have garnered rave reviews, in addition to being one of the most in demand live acts on the folk circuit. Songs such as ‘Hinba’ are both deceptively simple yet endowed with an incredible emotional resonance, with their Scottish burr’s and lavish instrumentation sounding unlike anything else available in the current music scene.
Unlike some acts, who mix folk with modern rock or punk, like The Pogues or Gogol Bordello have done to great success, they are not selling the idea of a fusion. They are about traditional music through and through, though that does not rule out the notion of being progressive: “Lau started out as traditional musicians hoping to broaden the palette, I think there are common emotional triggers employed in most forms of music, they just use different sounds and reference to convey them.”
“I don’t think i think like Shane McGowan, that would be both marvelous and truly terrifying. I have always loved the Pogues, but I don’t think our routes into folk music have been very similar, The Pogues took a punk ethos to traditional music, and found plenty of people – me included – that felt moved by the result.”
“It’s a great time to be a musician”, they quip, when asked about the state of the music industry. I ask them if I they think the current ADHD culture, where distractions such as the internet are so numerous , can distract from the popularity of the traditional music such as their own: “I think it goes the other way, now we have people in Thailand listening to Unquiet Grave on the internet because they can, more music for more people.”
They seem particularly excited about the potential of the current folk scene. Rather than something that is relegated to the past, they seem to feel part of something that is evolving and forward moving, with a great future ahead of it: “The standard of young players in the scene throughout the UK is phenomenal, and we will see some really remarkable folk music out of them in the next ten years, it’s going to be mega. Yes it is a scene we are happy with, it’s friendly, supportive, open-minded and aware of its past, it’s a great thing.”
As individuals they never really had made a decision to make the sort of music their making now, rather romantically it seems to have chosen them, having grown up immersed in it from a young age. “We are all directly inspired by family, all our families play traditional music of some form or other. We all started playing as children, so there were no lightbulb moments of ‘my God I just have to take up the accordion’ I was playing the accordion before I knew any better.”
However they’re not rejecting the modern world in anyway, they appreciate the opportunities that modern equipment and production can afford them: “As we have learnt more about studio technique, which is something we are all fascinated by, we have learnt to make a greater variation of sounds as a band, and those results in different sounding records.”
“Lightweights is essentially a representation of what we did live at that point, we had been gigging that material for a year before we recorded, and we just went and did it like we did on stage.” But over their history they have progressed on to newer electronic, more studio based sounds: “Arc Light, which is the middle album had more overdubs and a couple of things we have never done live as a result, when we made the last album Race The Loser, we went back to only playing in the studio what we could recreate live (pretty much), so all though there are bits of electronics etc on that album, we can do all that in the gig (we just have loads more stuff now).”
With a rich back catalog that is progressively expanding, I delve into whether there is anything they’ve done that particularly stands out and means a lot too them: “’Ghosts’, which is about the necessity of behaving humanely to people forced into social migration remains the most moving and socially relevant thing we have made.”
So how does a song such as this come about I ask, as I try to understand their creative process a bit better. “That started with a tune and a theme that Kris had that we had been playing as an instrumental, which he then wrote words to. The more complex musical things like Torsa start with a wee riff or a few bars of tune and we expand those out together in a very long but enjoyable process.” They really seem to enjoy the process of music making, it being organic and free flowing, with inspiration coming naturally from jams and evolving from there. Unlike some, they continue to listen to music together, being inspired together as artists and finding it therapeutic: “As a band we love to listen to music. In the van there is usually music on, and a wide variety, I’ve always been glad of that, listening to music together is good for a band.”
Considering how deeply they are taking inspiration from and interacting with the countries long history and culture, does the national identity of Scotland weigh down on them much? “Well I’m an Englishman that grew up playing Irish music and now lives in Scotland, so I don’t know how qualified I am here, but I’ll give it a go. Yes, the Scottishness of Lau is very important (to me also) the routes of that music in Aidan’s playing come from a tradition in the West Highlands and you can hear that in his accent. However, of course some people from Ireland could make this music if they were moved to do so. No, I don’t think national identity weighs down on Lau though, we never stop and say, that’s no good, it isn’t Scottish enough.”
They are starting their own folk festival, coming soon in May, wonderfully titled “Lau-Land”, that seeks to champion the music that inspires them. It sounds like a compelling concept:
“Lau-land is a movable festival we curate, the next one is at The Sage Gateshead at the end of May. It is a chance for us to bring together bands we love and that inspire us, and present them as concerts, and also introduce those musicians to each other. We are very keen on collaboration, it keeps the mind fresh, so we have put a few things together for this that excite us very much. Without going through the whole program, some highlights for me will be “The Unthanks” with Martin Hayes and Denis Cahill, which is a special collaboration for Lau-Land, experimental guitar legend “Fred Frith” is doing a concert with “Michael Chapman”, electronic rural magicians “Hacker Farm” are building an interactive installation in a shed ….”
“It’s going to be amazing.”, they say. Based on everything else I’ve heard from Lau thus far, I’ll definitely take their word for it.