In 2016, Laura Veirs popped up as a central player on case/lang/veirs, the self-titled debut of the supergroup she shares with k.d. lang and Neko Case, two of the most distinctive and formidable voices in music. Veirs not only held her own — which would have been a feat in and of itself, given the company she was keeping — but also made her warmly empathetic presence stand out.
On April 13, Laura Veirs returns with her 10th solo album, The Lookout. Produced once again by Tucker Martine, it's a sort of concept album about the precariousness of existence. The Lookout's quietly effervescent first single, "Everybody Needs You," nicely encapsulates Veirs' sound: The song billows on a breeze, with a bright and expansive arrangement that echoes, purrs and flutters invitingly.
"The Lookout is about the need to pay attention to the fleeting beauty of life and to not be complacent," Veirs writes via email. "It's about the importance of looking out for each other. I'm addressing what's happening around me with the chaos of post-election America, the racial divides in our country and a personal reckoning with the realities of midlife."
The Lookout Track Listing
1. Margaret Sands
2. Everybody Needs You
3. Seven Falls
4. Mountains of the Moon
5. Watch Fire
6. Heavy Petals
7. The Lookout
8. The Meadow
9. The Canyon
10. Lightning Rod
11. When It Grows Darkest
12. Zozobra
Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
