Lucas Laufen releases his latest album, Weathering, out May 13 via Embassy of Music
Berlin-based, Australian-born singer/songwriter Lucas Laufen releases his highly anticipated second album, Weathering, out May 13 via Embassy of Music. Weathering is a collection of impressions and memories he has collected in Europe throughout the last years. “Like everything I write, the album consists of personal stories, reflections and poems from the time after the release of my first album I Know Where Silence Lives. Weathering is about personal insights, processes changes and looks both to the future and to the past,” says Laufen about his musical diary.
Weathering is made up of nine tracks, including the melancholic lockdown song “Cabin Fever“, the heartwarming follow-up single “Time Took Tolls”, the solo piano instrumentation “Heaven On The Hill“, the heartbreaking “I Don’t Believe in Loss” and his latest, “In Cologne”. Laufen’s typical folk sound runs stringently through the entire album with subtle instrumentalisation that offer space for the gentle but emotionally charged voice of the singer/songwriter. The individual tracks usually focus on thoughts, feelings or moments that the singer personally experienced and with his dreamy, almost trance-like way of performing, he creates a feeling of melancholy when listening, which moves you to tears, as well as having a meditative and calming effect.
The singer/songwriter collected his impressions and experiences processed on the album during the last few years while traveling Europe. He visited many different places and experienced several different cultures, which moved Laufen to question and restructure his personal beliefs, values and ideas.
“The unraveling of my familiar world and environment initially brought with it many unpleasant and disconcerting moments. As I began to delve deeper into sustainability and climate change, I found it difficult to see any light at the end of the tunnel. But in the end I got hopeful again. Above all, music helps me to see the beauty of life and also the beauty of people. For me, Weathering is about this realisation and the change that comes with it. For example, recognising the positive in the apparently bad weather, stories on the way to the knowledge I gained and the people who helped me to recognise this,” says Lucas Laufen about the feelings and moments processed on the album.
The recordings for Weathering took place together with the two-time Grammy Award winner Antonio Pulli in Laufen’s studio in Weißensee. At the beginning of the pandemic, the musician decided to build a studio in East Berlin with his friend and drummer Gidon Carmel. The whole construction took almost a year.
“I tried a lot of production ideas and Antonio worked more in the opposite direction. It was a good balance and he really helped me find the confidence to detox the songs even more than I would have imagined. I wrote string arrangements for a few of the songs, which got completely muted during the mixdown. We explored many possibilities, but eventually put the songs into an honest format that fits the emotions I put into them. I also played the piano for the first time on the record and started to delve into the neoclassical world,” says the singer/songwriter about the recording process for his new album.
Weathering was released on May 13th via Embassy of Music.
Lucas Laufen Weathering Tour Dates
25.05.2022 – Alimentation Génèrale, Paris (FR)
26.05.2022 – Knust, Hamburg (DE)
27.05.2022 – Lotte Lindenberg, Frankfurt (DE)
30.05.2022 – Kulturhaus Karlstorbahnhof, Heidelberg (DE)
About Lucas Laufen
Lucas Laufen’s music can be linked to a form of therapy. His delicate brand of folk effortlessly relieves the listener of any stress, grief or sorrow. Sombre falsetto melodies married to shimmering guitars within elemental orchestrations that yearn and plunge, endow us to stop, breathe and escape the daily noise.
Growing up in the small ex-fishing town of Port Lincoln, Australia, Lucas was a passionate pianist at the age of eight and an ardent trumpet player at ten. It was not until his teens that he discovered the acoustic guitar and began fostering a deep and unique passion for songwriting
Lucas’s musical narrative embodies the dichotomy of the two worlds he inhabits, combining the coastal poetry of the wild Australian landscape with the rich history of the European continent he now calls home. The Australian songwriter, now Berlin-based, self-released his debut EP “Goodbye” in early 2016. The release expressed an important milestone for the young artist, as he left behind his small-town life in Australia for the German capital on the other side of the world.
Lucas is an incredibly dedicated and hardworking artist, since touching down in Europe, he toured extensively across the continent. Building a loyal audience playing over 300 shows, including a Live At Heart, and supporting acts in the likes of Hollow Coves, Julia Jacklin, Paul Dempsey, and Billie Marten.
In 2018, Lucas travelled to New Zealand to record his debut album “I Know Where Silence Lives” with producer Ben Edwards (Marlon Williams, Julia Jacklin, Aldous Harding). Shortly after completing the album, Lucas signed with Berlin label Embassy of Music (Björk, Ásgeir, Passenger) for the release of the debut record in December 2019. The album received widespread radio and editorial support in France and Australia, alongside German radio support from Flux FM, Radio Eins, Deutschlandfunk and HR2, as well as landing three Deezer editorial playlist spots and a TIDAL rising cover artist feature.
Like many, the COVID 19 pandemic put a stop to Lucas’s extensive touring. However, the songwriter redirected his focus to the studio, collaborating with Grammy award-winning producer Antonio Pulli to produce his second studio album “Weathering”.
The album is a breathtaking statement of artistry for Lucas, combining Neoclassical and Folk influences. Lucas will once more be teaming up with Embassy of Music for the release of the body of work over 2021 and 2022, accompanied by another fresh swathe of shows across Europe and beyond.