While recording her ninth album, Laura Veirs didn’t let a little thing like pregnancy get in her way. Working right up to giving birth, the experience seems to have focused her songwriting on themes of motherhood, safety and love.
Veirs herself has admitted, “I’m haunted by the idea that something terrible could happen to my kids but that fear pushes me to embrace the moment.”
A prime example is the track “America”, which examines gun violence. No doubt it was inspired by the ongoing gun law debate in the USA, where “everybody is packing heat”. Since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, it would be fair to say Veirs, especially as a mother, is pro-reform.
As the title Warp And Weft suggests, Veirs weaves together an album borrowing from old folk classics, including “Motherless Children” (covered in 1974 by Eric Clapton). This instils a sense of tradition in an otherwise modern work.
The guests who rally around the expectant mother, and in this case play or sing on the album, add to that sense of tradition. Warp And Weft sounds as though it was created communally; it evokes that ‘special time’ before birth that sees people coming together.
You can hear Neko Case’s unmistakable warble on “Sun Song”, plus Jim James (My Morning Jacket), KD Lang, and some of The Decemberists lending their own style to the album.
Yet despite a common thread, Warp And Weft is so musically varied, it really depends on your mood as to what songs will reach out to you, or if you will enjoy the album at all.
