Upcoming Shows
| Date | Venue | Location |
| May 14 2008 8:00PM | @ TBA - Hotel Cafe Tour | Zurich, CH |
| May 15 2008 8:00PM | @ Rocking Chair - Hotel Cafe Tour | Vevey, CH |
| May 16 2008 8:00PM | @ Nouveau - Hotel Cafe Tour | Paris, FR |
About Greg Laswell
Life is full of surprises. Just ask Greg Laswell. The Southern California-based writer/singer/multi-instrumentalist/producer was stunned when his marriage ended quite suddenly, a devastating experience he worked his way through by writing the songs that comprise Laswell’s gripping album Through Toledo (his first for Vanguard). The sense of intimacy that permeates this heart-wrenching chronicle was amplified by the fact that it was made in solitude, with Laswell producing and playing virtually all the instruments.
In the wake of the album’s release in the summer of 2006 came some surprises of a more positive nature. Laswell was blown away by the rapturous reviews, which made reference to Radiohead, Beck, Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake, Ben Folds and Rod Sexsmith, along with the requisite Beatles and Beach Boys mentions.
More recently, the artist was delighted to find that, following the pain-forged experience of writing those songs, he’s been inspired to come up with a new batch that meets his exacting standards—proving to himself that his creative process could be fueled by positive experiences as well as painful ones, with comparably beautiful results. Which brings us to Laswell’s new six-song EP, How the Day Sounds (March 11th). “The first album was obviously about my divorce, and I think of this EP as the first chapter of being OK,” he explains.
How the Day Sounds serves as a bridge between Through Toledo—it includes an expanded version of one album track and an outtake from the album sessions—and Laswell’s next album, which he’s written and will be released in the summer of 2008. Musically and emotionally, this collection is explicitly transitional, from its spotlight on Laswell’s elegantly expressive piano playing to the sense of healing and moving on that resonates throughout its course. The titles themselves reveal the spirit of the material: “Salvation Dear,” “Days Go On,” “Embrace Me.”
The transitional device is the reappearance of “High and Low,” one of Through Toledo’s most singled-out songs, thanks in large part to the devastating revelation at its heart: “Found a letter from a man I might have met / Addressed to you / I’ll steal the words he ended with / I miss you.” What’s different in this expanded version is the entrance of a full orchestra at the song’s pivotal moment, and it takes your breath away.
If “High and Low” represents one extreme of How the Day Sounds, the title song, which opens the EP, represents the prevailing tone of this set. A piano opens the track, tentative at first but gradually gaining strength until it practically explodes with exhilaration in the final third, mirroring the growing elation of Laswell’s vocal, which concludes with the invitation, “Oh my love won’t you sing along?”
“If you’re going through something that’s painful, and you first start to come out of it, you’re a bit surprised,” says Laswell. “And then you go through a period of still expecting to feel pain because that’s what you’ve done for so long. But one day you wake up and say, ‘Hey, wait a second—I’m actually doing all right.’ That’s how I started writing ‘How the Day Sounds.’ That one and ‘Days Go On’ are the first songs I wrote when I was surprised I could feel a certain way again."
The sensation of healing literally starts, though, in the last song, Through Toledo outtake “What a Day,” which seems to take place at the very instant the pain eases to a point at which it’s bearable, and he sings, over sparse, piano-and-acoustic guitar accompaniment, “What a day to be alive / What a day to realize I’m not dead.” Not exactly joyous, perhaps, but reflective of the moment of realization that the pain has become bearable. This epiphany is followed by a coda containing a metaphor of birth…or, in this case, rebirth.
Making music helped Laswell through tough times, and it continues to be therapeutic for him as his life moves along. “It’s such a part of how I deal with things,” he confirms. “In a sense it’s the only way I deal with things. I use music as a catalyst to get me through whatever’s going on."
“The last album kind of hung on the common perception that these songs came from a painful place, and that’s what made them good. So I was eager to write from the other side once I was ready to. I am deeply connected to these songs and I hope other people can be as well."
Laswell pauses to consider the expectations of an audience that embraced him out of a common anguish. “But there’ll be a bunch of sad songs on the next album,” he says, reassuringly.
Be that as it may, How the Day Sounds stands as a vital chapter in what is proving to be a strikingly candid and deeply involving autobiography.
In the wake of the album’s release in the summer of 2006 came some surprises of a more positive nature. Laswell was blown away by the rapturous reviews, which made reference to Radiohead, Beck, Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake, Ben Folds and Rod Sexsmith, along with the requisite Beatles and Beach Boys mentions.
More recently, the artist was delighted to find that, following the pain-forged experience of writing those songs, he’s been inspired to come up with a new batch that meets his exacting standards—proving to himself that his creative process could be fueled by positive experiences as well as painful ones, with comparably beautiful results. Which brings us to Laswell’s new six-song EP, How the Day Sounds (March 11th). “The first album was obviously about my divorce, and I think of this EP as the first chapter of being OK,” he explains.
How the Day Sounds serves as a bridge between Through Toledo—it includes an expanded version of one album track and an outtake from the album sessions—and Laswell’s next album, which he’s written and will be released in the summer of 2008. Musically and emotionally, this collection is explicitly transitional, from its spotlight on Laswell’s elegantly expressive piano playing to the sense of healing and moving on that resonates throughout its course. The titles themselves reveal the spirit of the material: “Salvation Dear,” “Days Go On,” “Embrace Me.”
The transitional device is the reappearance of “High and Low,” one of Through Toledo’s most singled-out songs, thanks in large part to the devastating revelation at its heart: “Found a letter from a man I might have met / Addressed to you / I’ll steal the words he ended with / I miss you.” What’s different in this expanded version is the entrance of a full orchestra at the song’s pivotal moment, and it takes your breath away.
If “High and Low” represents one extreme of How the Day Sounds, the title song, which opens the EP, represents the prevailing tone of this set. A piano opens the track, tentative at first but gradually gaining strength until it practically explodes with exhilaration in the final third, mirroring the growing elation of Laswell’s vocal, which concludes with the invitation, “Oh my love won’t you sing along?”
“If you’re going through something that’s painful, and you first start to come out of it, you’re a bit surprised,” says Laswell. “And then you go through a period of still expecting to feel pain because that’s what you’ve done for so long. But one day you wake up and say, ‘Hey, wait a second—I’m actually doing all right.’ That’s how I started writing ‘How the Day Sounds.’ That one and ‘Days Go On’ are the first songs I wrote when I was surprised I could feel a certain way again."
The sensation of healing literally starts, though, in the last song, Through Toledo outtake “What a Day,” which seems to take place at the very instant the pain eases to a point at which it’s bearable, and he sings, over sparse, piano-and-acoustic guitar accompaniment, “What a day to be alive / What a day to realize I’m not dead.” Not exactly joyous, perhaps, but reflective of the moment of realization that the pain has become bearable. This epiphany is followed by a coda containing a metaphor of birth…or, in this case, rebirth.
Making music helped Laswell through tough times, and it continues to be therapeutic for him as his life moves along. “It’s such a part of how I deal with things,” he confirms. “In a sense it’s the only way I deal with things. I use music as a catalyst to get me through whatever’s going on."
“The last album kind of hung on the common perception that these songs came from a painful place, and that’s what made them good. So I was eager to write from the other side once I was ready to. I am deeply connected to these songs and I hope other people can be as well."
Laswell pauses to consider the expectations of an audience that embraced him out of a common anguish. “But there’ll be a bunch of sad songs on the next album,” he says, reassuringly.
Be that as it may, How the Day Sounds stands as a vital chapter in what is proving to be a strikingly candid and deeply involving autobiography.
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