The Laurels are an Australian

neo-psychedelic Neo-psychedelia is a diverse genre of psychedelic music that draws inspiration from the sounds of 1960s psychedelia, either updating or copying the approaches from that era. Originating in the 1970s, it has occasionally seen mainstream pop suc ...

four-piece based in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Inner West The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...

. They formed in 2006 after the members met through mutual friends at a silly hat party, each of them originally living in disparate parts of the

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of Australia. The band garnered critical acclaim in the Sydney live music scene after playing extensively throughout the latter 2000s in both headline and international support slots before releasing their debut single "Art School Girl"/"Wandering Star'" in 2009 and their full length ''Plains'' album in 2012. The band's second album, ''Sonicology'', was released in October 2016 and their third ''Homecoming'' in March 2022.

Musical style

The Laurels developed a live sound that differs notably to the sound that appears on their recordings. The band uses

shoegazing Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

guitar techniques and understated vocals to emulate the loud and heavily distorted sound of 90's artists such as

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and My Bloody Valentine when playing live. The band says that their live

wall of sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session m ...

style arose from their reliance on layered guitar recordings for their recorded works, and that the best way to emulate this live with only two guitars was to play at a greatly increased volume. Shoegaze influences also feature strongly on the group's recordings, with many of their songs using multiple guitar layers and

reverberation Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abso ...

to achieve complex musical textures. However, while many shoegaze groups intentionally use lower recording quality to add texture to their recordings, the Laurels' works are notably cleaner and of higher fidelity than the bands from which they take influence.

Reception and critical success

The Laurels' extensive live headline shows and support slots for international artists throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s in Sydney and

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 ...

were well received by the Australian music media. They have won and gained nominations for several awards for their live shows. In 2011 they were nominated Best Live Music Act in

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 ...

's Sydney Music, Arts & Culture Awards.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended Plays

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laurels Australian musical quartets Australian neo-psychedelia groups Musical groups from Sydney Musical groups established in 2006