If you haven’t yet heard of Laura Moody, Avant-Garde singer songwriter and Elysian Quartet cellist, then prepare yourself for some ear melting delight with the imminent release of her debut album Acrobats. Teasing listeners with 5 live video releases of songs from the album, Laura Moody has managed to create her own well deserved hype through beautiful renditions of her own tracks and a unique rendition cover of Nick Drake’s ‘Cello Song’. Performed at the magical Wilton’s musical Hall, from a unique album preview in June.

First up in the series is the mesmerising cover of Nick Drake’s ‘Cello Song’, in which Laura undoubtedly highlights her unique musical abilities as she combines her harrowing vocals with skilled string abilities. Her theatrical and vibrant performances are matched with her velvet tones and virtuosic ability to simultaneously play the cello. Laura’s arrangement of the classic is an expressive listening experience, as it provokes an emotive response to even the most passive of listeners.

Acrobats features six original tracks alongside her captivating re-imagining of the classic, each creating infinite marriages of captivating sounds, noises and textures. The album struggles to be categorised as Laura sits comfortably amongst no restraints as she creates an avant-garde, classical, pop and singer-songwriter combination. Opening song ‘We Are Waiting’ eases the listener into a dream like state with quieter cello plucks and Laura’s trademark honey tones as she flitters between subtle spoken words as she tell the story of a beloved.

The singer-cellists sound is a unique listening experience as the album displays her innovative instrumental playing. She creates clicks, shrieks and howls through-out track ‘Call This Time’, a dramatic contemporary classic, that features unexpected whirring metallic like noises. The eccentricity that Laura has managed to perfect easily is witnessed in penultimate album track ‘O Lacrimosa’. The song can only be described as beautifully uneasy as Laura whispers “Come here my love, and be my eyes, since November”. The song reaches overwhelming crescendo’s as she erratically creates poetic emotion in falsetto vocal, heavy breaths and urgent playing.

Laura has already achieved international acclaim through her membership in the innovative Elysian Quarter, which is known for its pioneering performances and recording of contemporary classics, experimental and improvised music. Acrobats see’s the artist take her first steps towards a solo debut collaborating with renowned producers Dominic Murcott and composer Edward Jessen, both of which play greatly into the world of sound art. The album itself was funded through the entrepreneurial site for aspiring creatives, Kickstarter, reaching its target in May this year. For those dedicated fans that helped create this magical offering have been left anxiously anticipating the release, and they are not set to be disappointed.

Acrobats is out 3 November 2014 on Surbiton Lagoon Records

Katie Muxworthy

@katiealice55