Laura

Singles

• We Should Keep This Secret (2004)
• I Hope (2006)
• Radio Swan Is Down part 1 – Live (2007)
• Mark the Day (2010)
• This Grey Earth (2011)
• The Slow (2012)

EPs

• Yes Maybe No (2008)

Albums

• Mapping Your Dreams (2005)
• Radio Swan Is Down (2006)
• Live Album – (re)capitulate (2007)
• Twelve Hundred Times (2011)

Officially, the 5-piece alternative outfit from Melbourne formed in 2001, but it wasn’t until a few years later that the band’s story really began. Following the release of its debut EP ‘Photographs…’ in 2002, Laura experimented with a number of member changes and, consequently, sounds. By 2003, the band included the members: Andrew Chalmers (guitars / vocals), Nathan Biggin (piano / synthesizers /guitars), David Gagliardi (drums, percussion, organ, vocals) Ben Yardley (guitars), Andrew Yardley (bass), and Carolyn Gannell (cello). The time spent perfecting the mix was clearly worth the toil, because what followed is one of the most impressive and well received bodies of work produced by an Australian underground act in recent years.

In 2004, Laura released its debut album, ‘Mapping Your Dreams’, produced by Melbourne-based Japanese engineer and recording artist Naomune Anzai. The title track quickly gained the attention of radio, receiving high-rotation airplay from independent stations around the country including FBi Radio and 2SER in Sydney, and 3RRR and 3PBS in Melbourne. Critical success soon followed. Of the album, Rave Magazine said, “Mapping Your Dreams drips in ethereal, other worldly wall of soundness.” Beat Magazine named the track ‘We Should Keep This Secret’ its Single of the Week and later Indie Single of the Year for 2004. During this time, Laura began to gain significant momentum in the live arena as well, thanks to intense shows that featured the band’s signature wall of sound, and its dramatic and at times chaotic dynamics.

Having created a more than healthy groundswell, Laura spent an intense six months writing and recording its second album, ‘Radio Swan Is Down’. Upon the albums’ release in 2006, the band embarked on a national tour which not only proved to intensify their fan base, but also gained the attention of international ears including US prog-metal group ISIS, for whom Laura would go on to support on their 2007 Australian tour. That same year, the band released a Japanese edition of ‘Radio Swan Is Down’, later promoting the album with a tour of Japan that included shows in Tokyo, Osaka and Hiroshima.

With their international profile clearly on the rise, and a solid international fan base now well established, Laura released their second EP ‘Yes Maybe No’ in 2008 on US label Elevation Recordings.

In 2011 the band released their third studio album ‘Twelve Hundred Times’. To promote the album a limited edition double a-side 7 inch, ‘This Grey Earth | Mark The Day’ was released and named Single Of The Week by both Beat Magazine and InPress.