Laura is a post-rock band from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia.

History

Laura formed in 2001 and released their debut EP - ''Photographs...'' in 2002. Although it received positive reviews on the whole, it failed to gain the band a significant following. However, with their follow up album Mapping Your Dreams (produced by noted Japanese engineer Naomune Anzai) in 2004, they became world-renowned for their loud live shows and post-rock sound. The album garnered high-rotation airplay and promotional support from independent radio stations

FBi Radio FBi (call sign: 2FBI) station is an independent, not-for-profit community radio in Sydney, Australia. FBi places a heavy emphasis on local emerging music: it has a policy that at least 50 per cent of its music content is to be Australian, of wh ...

and

2ser 2SER is a community radio station in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, broadcasting on the frequency 107.3 FM and is a member of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia. The station is largely self-supporting, relying upon revenue ...

in Sydney as well as

3RRR 3RRR (pronounced "Three Triple R", or simply "Triple R") is an Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. 3RRR first commenced broadcasting in 1976 from the studios of 3ST, the student radio station of the Royal Melbourne Institut ...

and 3PBS in

. It was critically successful notably in the naming of self-released single ''We Should Keep This Secret'' (from their Mapping Your Dreams album) as

Beat Magazine ''Beat'' is a free monthly tabloid-sized music magazine (street press) published and distributed in Melbourne, Australia. It was Melbourne's longest running street press, and one of the earliest street press after TAGG. ''Beat'' paused its ...

's single of the week in 4 September, and later becoming the magazine's single of that year. ''Radio Swan Is Down'', their second album, was released in 2006 and was supported by a national tour. In February 2007, Laura supported US band

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

on their tour of Australia. ''(re)capitulate'', released in October 2007, is a live recording that was recorded at the HiFi Bar in Melbourne during this tour. The live version of 'Radio Swan Is Down part 1' was voted Beat Single of the week as well as receiving much critical acclaim for its intensity and power. Their second EP ''Yes Maybe No'', released in 2008 on US label Elevation Recordings, was limited to 2000 copies. Having released a Japanese edition of ''Radio Swan is Down'' the previous year, Laura toured Japan in 2008 to promote the album, playing shows in Tokyo, Osaka and Hiroshima. In 2009, they supported Swedish band

Cult of Luna Cult of Luna is a Swedish heavy metal band from Umeå founded in 1998. They are known for post-metal music similar to the contemporary bands Neurosis and Isis. The band was signed to Earache Records in the early 2000s and released five albums, i ...

and Japanese band

Mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanese b ...

on their tours of Australia. The band play live shows occasionally and continue to write new material. In 2018, Andrew, Ben and Carolyn starting writing and recording some new material for their side project, Sens Dep (Sensory Deprivation). Their album Lush Desolation is being released on the 30th November 2020.

Members

*Nathan Biggin (

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, synthesizers,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

s) *Andrew Chalmers (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

) *Carolyn Gannell (

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

) *Andrew Yardley (

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

s) *Ben Yardley (

Discography

Singles

*''We Should Keep This Secret'' (2004) *''I Hope'' (2006) *''Radio Swan Is Down part 1 - Live'' (2007) *''Mark the Day'' (2010) *''This Grey Earth'' (2011) *''The Slow'' (2012)

EPs

*''Photographs...'' (2002) *''Yes Maybe No'' (2008)

Albums

*''Mapping Your Dreams'' (2005) *''Radio Swan Is Down'' (2006) *''Live Album - (re)capitulate'' (2007) *'' Twelve Hundred Times'' (2011)

External links

Band Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laura (Band) Victoria (Australia) musical groups Australian post-rock groups