FEATURE:
Spotlight
lau.ra
__________
THE moniker of…
the remarkable and super-talented Laura Bettinson, lau.ra is also known by her stage name, FEMME. She is also a member of Ultraísta with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. She a Warwickshire-born songwriter, producer and D.J. who is hugely inspiring. I love everything she has ever done! She started writing music at sixteen, gigging around the Midlands area before moving to London to study Bmus Popular Music at Goldsmiths, University of London. Whilst I am going to spotlight Bettinson as lau.ra as one to follow and investigate, there are a few interviews I am bringing in that, understandably, are more about Laura Bettinson as an artist and creative. I have put some links at the bottom of this feature so that you can follow lau.ra, and there will be songs of hers here and there. One of the most innovative artists there is, I have been a fan of lau.ra for a long time. This is good timing in terms of a feature, as her debut mixtape, Vol 1: The Collection, is out tomorrow. Here is a link and some information about the hot release:
“Boundary pushing electronic artist, lau.ra, delivers her debut mixtape Vol. 1 - The Collection, on Needwant - an imprint that’s developed artists such as Kim Ann Foxman, Ejeca, Kiwi, Meg Ward, Rein, and Paris Green. Vol. 1 is a diverse collection of bass driven records which are instantly recognisable as lau.ra’s own developed and unique style.
The downtempo, overdriven banger ‘Sideways’ kicks off the LP, Featuring self-taught star Secaina on vocals, wonky drum grooves, blasts of grizzly bass and warped rubber synths that add up to a fantastically fat and wobbly groove that straddles multiple genres at once. ‘Get Creative’ draws parallels with ’Sideways’ with it’s four to the floor beat and entrancing vocal from East London singer-songwriter Nova, also known as Nova Newland, a performer with a distinctive, gender defying voice.
Frequent collaborator, Eliza Legzdina, features on two of the LP’s tracks; ‘Blow’ and ‘Wicked’. The lead single, ‘Blow’, is laden with crunchy percussion, heavy bass and lau.ra’s signature synth style with Eliza Legzdina’s vocal confidently powering the progression. It is in your face and impossible to ignore. ‘Wicked’ instantly gets you warmed up with a blast of saturated bass before Eliza’s enticing vocal draws you deeper into the tracks hard and bare groove.
‘Chengdu’ is a laidback eastern jam which is driven by a soft flute motif that carries you softly into a field of scattered percussion, skipping beats and an unforgiving bassline which contrasts perfectly with its mellow surroundings. The track is reminiscent of the underground UKG scene with its swung beats and a withdrawn, reverb soaked vocal sample drawing parallels with Burial’s earlier work. ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ shares in the underground UKG vibe and features a hard and direct vocal delivery from Kiwi artist JessB. Model Man delivers a stripped and euphoric back remix of ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ as the album’s final track”.
I am going to work backwards and bring together a few interviews. If you are new to lau.ra or have not heard her magic music and production, then these will provide some depth and explanation. Minimal Mag chatted about her incredibly eclectic sonic reach – Lau.ra looked ahead to this year and stated what we might expect (now that we know she has a mixtape out):
“You have a unique take on electronic dance music sprinkled with many UK flavours, seamlessly taking elements from a range of genres. Are there any artists or styles you’re particularly influenced by at the moment?
I look up to producers like Chris Lake, Chris Lorenzo, Justin Martin, Four Tet, and also take a lot of influence from old school UKG. I’m also a big fan of a great vocal hook, a vocal can make or break a tune and I have a good ear for lines that’ll stick in your head forever.
You’ve stated more than once we’re not seeing the return of Femme. I’ve definitely noticed elements present in tracks under your old moniker in your current work. Do you feel like lau.ra is its own project entirely or rather the logical evolution of Femme?
My last two releases as FEMME were already moving in a dancier/more electronic direction but were still rooted in song-writing structures. With lau.ra I really wanted to break free of those restraints and be able to use vocals more as samples and instruments in the arrangement rather than having to write an entire song every time. lau.ra is likely a natural evolution of FEMME but I wanted to launch a new project as unlike in FEMME, I am no longer singing on every track. In fact I very rarely sing on any lau.ra tunes, it’s my opportunity to work with other vocalists and just be producer and editor.
As lau.ra we’ve seen you work with countless other artists, both by lending your voice to other acts for their productions or working with other vocalists in your own arrangements. Can you give us any hints on who you’re working with next, or perhaps some dream collaborations you’d love to do?
There’s a big track in the bag which I’m hoping will be on what will inevitably be a massive album in electronic music and i’m waiting to see if that will all go ahead and other than that I have my own EP coming out very soon followed by a vinyl physical release of all my singles and some new stuff so far in 2022. I’m always vocaling bits for the big names in dance music so alongside those and my own releases that are planned I think 2022 will be fairly large”.
There are other interviews that caught my eye that I want to share. WODJ Magazine spoke with lau.ra during the worst part of the pandemic to ask how she has been faring:
“What has music meant to you during this unusual time?
I actually haven’t listened to a lot of music because I’ve been making so much of my own. I’m lucky that my studio is in my house so it’s been a fairly productive time for me and unusual to have such a long stretch of undisturbed time to concentrate on creating. It’s kept me focussed and motivated. Although some weeks have been more fruitful than others.
What’s the song that would define you the most and why?
In many ways the song that defines me most is the Four Tet remix of the song ‘Small Talk’ by Ultraísta that I sing on. That remix opened a lot of doors for me and was really my introduction into dance and electronic music. After it was released I realized that my voice could be quite strong and unique in that space and it led to many more successful collaborations for me. Four Tet is also a huge inspiration in terms of artistry, career and approach to production so to have him work on a song that we’d made was pretty thrilling.
Where is the place you would love to play your song as the last track of the night?
I feel like this song would go off as the closer down in the basement of Dalston Superstore. Or an iconic gay club in NYC. People voguing and hooking up everywhere. It would be kind of perfect wouldn’t it really. Let’s hope we all get to go out again soon.
Your top 5 favorite tracks, to give us an insight in your musical tastes?
All Night Long – Mary Jane Girls (Ardalan Edit)
Don’t Go – Justin Martin
Essence – Cassius Select
I’m Not Dancing – Tirzah, Micachu
Baby I Need Your Loving – The Four Tops
What’s your biggest dream and how do you go about achieving it?
Play more! Make more! Learn more! Earn more! Every year I feel like a stronger version of myself. I hope that I can inspire some young women to enter the music industry as music producers. Growing up in a small town in the middle of England I wasn’t even aware of technical roles in the music industry. The only women I saw in music were pop stars, so I naturally entered the music industry as an artist and it wasn’t until I was frustrated with the creative ‘co-writing’ process in pop music that I started to teach myself music production. I didn’t want to wait around for someone to fit me into his schedule to enable me to create stuff and get shit done. I’ve never looked back. I feel like I’m right where I need to be but I remain open to all and any adventures”.
I am going to round off soon. There are two more interviews that I want to get in there. There were some terrific answers and reveals from the Fifteen Questions interview. It is one of the most interesting out there. Go and check it out in full:
“When did you start writing producing music? And what are who we are early passions and influences? What is it about music and or sound that drew you to it?
I started writing and producing my own songs when I was about 16. Before that, I'd always been a singer from from a very young age about five, my parents telling me I would be singing all the time. I would learn to sing through imitating other artists pop pop stars, and some of my favorite songs on the radio. That's how I kind of trained my pitch and and strengthened my voice.
But I didn't start writing my own songs until I was about 16. And that was initially on the piano. And then I moved to London when I was 18 and realized that I couldn't take a piano to any shows because stage pianos are really heavy. And I was a student and didn't have any money to pay for taxis. So I started to work with electronics and getting, again, all my gear that I needed into a suitcase. So instead I started messing around with loop stations and samplers. From that experience of going out live and playing these songs with really basic, programmed beats, I then took that into the studio context and started to teach myself how to produce and program.
What is it about music and or sound that drew you to it?
I'm not sure. I think, really, how I ended up here is because I have a very strong desire to create. And to create, I mean, it could be music, it could be video, it could be art, could be fashion, I have an interest in all those things. It just so happened that music was the one that stuck. I got some early successes through the door, which meant I kind of was hurtling down this path. So it wasn't intentional. I just wanted to make stuff. Before I moved to London as an 18 year old to study music I was doing my a levels in art. And I had the intention of going to study art in London, rather than music, but it didn't work out that way. I ended up jumping on music first. And and here I am still making music. So it wasn't a kind of predetermine decision.
What were your main compositional and production challenges in the beginning? And how have they changed over time?
Well, when I first started writing and producing my own music, like I mentioned, I was making pop music. And at the time, I was really, really influenced by that Phil Spector wall of sound. When I grew up, I obviously was a child of the 90s. So it was a lot of Spice Girls, and Destiny's Child and all states and things like that. But my parents and my grandparents and also me and a lot of my friends, we would love to listen to Motown Records, old soul and then as a kind of tangent off that a lot of the 60s girl groups. So when I first started making pop music, I was very, very influenced by that sound. But obviously, when you've never really produced any records before, creating something that dense is really hard, because you have no idea how to mix anything. So that was probably my greatest challenge.
When I first started producing my own music was I had aspirations beyond my skill set in terms of a mixer. Now, 10 years into making music and producing my own records, I've gone from strength to strength and that really is just practice. I say that to a lot of young producers and an upcoming artists: You've got to put the hours in. I certainly have and I feel like in the last 18 months with the music I've been making, I've just completely made some really huge leap forwards in terms of my skill set as a mix engineer, mainly because I've found the set of sounds and the right world. For me, that makes the mixing process a lot easier. I found the right place, I found a great sonic identity for myself.
Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece or album that's particularly dear to you? Where did the ideas come from? How were they transformed in your mind? What did you start with?
One piece of music of my own that I am very proud of, is a song called "Wicked", featuring Eliza Legzdina. For me, that really sums up my creative process.
When I'm making a new song, I always aspire to create a banging piece of music that's gonna make people dance without using too many musical elements. I want to make the most filthy, outrageously banging tune, but not have 150 tracks in my session. I really felt like I achieved that with "Wicked". I had programmed this and I had written that baseline, and I put the whole thing together as an instrument. And I was like: Yes, this is really working. And it did really work as an instrumental. But then I met Eliza, who came in to my studio in South London for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. And she just wrote some kind of extended verses back to back and her voice was perfect for the track, had the right amount of edge and kind of sass and had a unique quality to it, which I loved. And always with my music, when I'm producing a new song for myself, I'm trying to capture a personality. So when Eliza came in, she banged down a few verses back to back, we had a coffee and then we said goodbye. She really wasn't in my studio for very long. She went home.
And then I spent the next few hours chopping up those vocals that she left me, sculpting and crafting the hooks out of it, which then became the finished song. By the evening of that day, by 6pm or something I kind of had it finished. I love tracks that come together that quickly. It's usually a really good sign for me if I if a song comes together quickly, it's a it's you've made the right, strong decisions from day one you're not doubting yourself. That definitely sums up my creative process”.
I am going to finish off with this Music Radar interview that helps give a larger picture of lau.ra and Laura Bettinson. She is a hugely inspiring artist and innovator who, I feel, will continue to break ground and win hearts around the world:
“Turning to the tech side of things, what gear would you say is the cornerstone of your work in the guise of lau.ra?
“To be honest, I can make a banging tune with very little equipment. A laptop and a USB keyboard, with a set of headphones is all I need to get working. I’ve never been that hung up on getting loads of gear.
“I have a little Yamaha CS-5 which I use for bass sounds quite a lot, that I couldn’t live without. I have a little Korg Minilogue synth here too which is perfect for me as it’s small and fits nicely on my desk!
“I really don’t like faff, actually, so I have a few choice vocal mics that I’ve been enjoying and use a lot. Aston mics are really affordable and high quality. I don’t really get a lot of the elitism that comes with gear a lot of the time. I’ve never had that much of a budget to spend, and I’ve never really lusted after gear, because my restrictions of the gear that I used informed the sound that I was making.
Laura is hopeful that the imminent re-opening of live venues can level the playing field.
“I actually think we have a unique opportunity to support more home-grown talent, especially in dance music,” she tells us. “Over the last five years, the same names were on every club line-up in three different countries every weekend. There really wasn’t much room for anyone new to come through. I think now with the travel restrictions, it presents a unique opportunity, once venues re-open, to have a bit of space to come through. Especially for women and black DJs, and queer artists. I hope we don’t go too quickly back to the same 12 white guys, who are on every single line-up every weekend.”
“Don’t get me wrong - given the time and the money, there’s a long list of synths that I would love. With the kinds of basslines that I write, like the one in Wicked, for example, you need to be doing those on analogue synths really. It’s not quite the same to do it all in software. There’s definitely more punch with the real deal. But I’m happy to live within my restrictions – I actually think that it makes me more creative, to have less stuff.
“I work in Logic. When I first started producing music about ten years ago, I used Cubase on a pretty crap PC laptop. I think I was only using that for about half a year before I moved over to Logic. I’ve been using it ever since then.”
How about synths; do you have an extensive collection of soft synths?
“I’ve not used it for a while but NI’s Reaktor in Kontakt is something that I quite enjoy using. It was always my go-to for bass sounds.
"Recently I’ve been enjoying the Arturia Analog Lab. It’s got some amazing emulations of Prophets and classic analogue synths. I’ve been enjoying using their stuff. I will also still occasionally use Massive. There’s one sound in particular in there, the B-Low 2 preset, which adds quite an effective 808 sound.”
Is there anything else you want to complete your setup?
“I do collect a lot of plugins and sample packs and keep refreshing that side of things more than hardware. Most of my work is chopping up audio. I work with drum samples and chopped-up bass loops that I’ve found, or bass performances that I’ve recorded in someone else’s studio.
“In terms of actual hardware, I’m not all that interested really. I should be more, especially now I have a new studio space. I need some new monitors and a new compressor.
"I use Focal CMS65 monitors, which I love. I’ve also got a pair of NS10s that I use for reference”.
If you have not check out lau.ra and ordered her new mixtape, Vol 1: The Collection, then go and do that now. A simply amazing artist, producer, D.J. and writer. Long may she reign! Go and investigate the astonishing work of…
THE mighty lau.ra.
____________
Follow lau.ra
