Description
In Brighton, the young non-binary singer and composer would immerse themself
amongst the city’s vanguard of free- thinking artists and musicians. Lau Ro
formed Wax Machine whose prefigurative, psychedelic community provided a
glimmer of countercultural hope amid a backdrop of national political decline.
From 2020-23, Wax Machine birthed three cult-favourite albums in as many years;
indebted in part to their British psychedelic forebears from progressive folk, rock
and jazz yore. But the kernel of Lau’s Brazilian sound was already beginning to
blossom across Wax Machine’s releases. Now, taking root deeper still, Lau Ro
steps forward with their debut album: Cabana.
Melancholy and hope combine across ten tracks of dreamy bossa,
ambient folk, fuzzy tropicalia and majestic MPB. The music is swathed in
masterful string arrangements and trippy electronics in equal part, while Lau Ro’s
delicate, yet quietly confident voice takes acerbic aim (in both English and
Portuguese) at polluted city life, while dreaming of a utopia, rich with nature and
wildlife.
Like the musical equivalent of semantic drift, Lau Ro’s displacement led to the
creation of another Brazil. A mythic place in Lau’s soul, as they put it, “where the
sunshine and joy of my childhood remained untapped.” Lau continues: “It’s music
that might sound as if it came out of a parallel universe Brazil, rather than its
modern day landscape. I am nowadays rediscovering Brazil, going back as often as
I can and trying to stay connected to these different parts of the world and myself.”
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