Lau

Drawing its moniker from an Orcadian expression denoting natural illumination, albeit via a deliberate alteration of the original spelling away from “lowe,” the trio Lau assembled in Edinburgh during 2006 and promptly earned acclaim for uncommon creativity and originality. The three originators, Aidan O’Rourke, Kris Drever, and Martin Green, already commanded respect as individual musicians through extensive work across divergent ensembles, yet each regarded Lau as their most demanding and rewarding step forward, a configuration deliberately conceived as a counterweight to the many high-velocity jigs-and-reels groups across Scotland that relied on drum-and-bass backing. By incorporating atypical rhythms, jazz elements, and measured improvisation, the musicians forged an understatedly challenging approach to arrangement and melody that had seldom surfaced within the folk environments they primarily inhabited. They first encountered one another amid Edinburgh’s lively session circuit, where jazz players likewise gathered and spontaneous exchanges between the two idioms flourished.

An incisive fiddler raised on Seil off Scotland’s western seaboard, O’Rourke began touring at fifteen, joined Blazing Fiddles, and at nineteen established Tabache alongside Claire Mann; he later participated in Unusual Suspects and the fusion outfit Kevin Mackenzie’s Vital Signs, issued his initial solo recording Sirius in 2003, and launched Sunhoney with Donald Hay and Alyth McCormack to blend traditional melodies with jazz and hip-hop. Named Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2005 Scottish Traditional Music Awards, O’Rourke had already contributed to more than fifty albums before committing to a fresh project with Drever and Green. Son of Ivan Drever of the folk-rock ensemble Wolfstone, Kris Drever had likewise forged a substantial profile after relocating from the Orkneys to Edinburgh; his instinctive guitar work and unhurried vocals distinguished numerous groups, and he had already completed his first solo album, Black Water, by the time Lau commenced activity. Accordionist Martin Green, originally from Cambridge, cultivated his standing as a dynamic, high-energy box player through outfits such as Whiskey Before Breakfast and the Joe Townsend Band before spending several years in Eliza Carthy’s band, including the 2001 duet recording Dinner with Carthy; relocating to Scotland to join his partner placed him within the Edinburgh session milieu and enabled Lau’s formation.

Following months of intensive preparation in O’Rourke’s kitchen, during which they assembled an entirely original repertoire, the musicians made their first appearances at the Leith Folk Club and the Edinburgh Festival in 2006. Their instinctive rapport and unforeseen structural turns rendered them immediately popular, partly because neither listeners nor the performers themselves could reliably predict subsequent developments. “Nothing is purely improvised but there are certain tracks with a designated window to allow improvisation,” O’Rourke observed. “It can be a big window or a little window depending on the gig.” Their debut album, Lightweights & Gentlemen, combining original compositions with distinctive renderings of pieces such as “Freeborn Man” and “Unquiet Grave,” appeared early in 2007 to widespread praise, even as band members and observers alike searched for a concise descriptor of the sound; one critique that termed the music “sublime, anarchic modern folk music” perhaps came closest to its essence. Concurrently, all three Lau members established the experimental, left-field group Parallelogram.

The following year the trio issued Live, documenting a performance at Edinburgh’s Bongo Club at the close of 2007 and functioning as a counterpart to their studio debut through live versions of numerous selections. In 2009 they delivered their second studio album, Arc Light, once more extending the limits of contemporary folk while concluding the record with a singular interpretation of the Beatles’ “Dear Prudence.” Self-released EPs with Karine Polwart and Adem followed over the subsequent two years, after which the musicians returned with their third studio album, Race the Loser, in 2012. For their fourth album the trio traveled to Castlesound Studios in Scotland, engaging Joan Wasser, better known as Joan as Police Woman, as producer; the resulting The Bell That Never Rang emerged in mid-2015. Marking a decade since their initial release, the group presented the career-spanning Decade: The Best of 2007-2017 and toured in support, drawing material from across their catalog.